Many pro-lifers calling a cease-fire

Pro-life voters are turning away from the GOP as the election approaches.

And it makes perfect sense.

Before I say anything else, let me just say this: I'm pro-choice -- I just happen to believe that abortion is always the wrong choice, and I wish that women wouldn't choose it.

I will never be convinced that abortion is an acceptable solution to an unwelcome pregnancy (and some personal experience has helped to strengthen this opinion), but I don't think that the government should be able to take away a woman's right to choose. And even if I did think it was the government's place, I don't think Roe v. Wade will ever be overturned ... no matter who is in the White House.

And I'm not the only one who's come to that conclusion.

Slate Magazine has uncovered a change among pro-lifers: They're not voting based on abortion anymore.

Marlene Turnbach is a pro-life Democrat who voted for George W. Bush twice because of his views on abortion. She said, "Bush won because all my friends who are Democrats voted for him and put abortion over everything else."

Barack Obama is ahead of John McCain in polls of Catholic voters, and six in 10 of Catholics are pro-life. What changed?

"It isn't that Turnbach's stand on abortion has shifted any, she says. But her view of the Republican Party's commitment to seeing Roe overturned has: 'Even if McCain does get in, he's not going to do anything' that would lead to a reversal of Roe. The legality of abortion 'is not going to change,' she's concluded, 'and I really don't think it should be an issue' in this presidential race."

I'm inclined to agree. I understand feeling strongly about an issue, and I do feel strongly about this one, but why base your vote on a single issue when that issue is unlikely to change under any circumstances?

The real issue in this election is the economy ... and on that, I think McCain might be in trouble.