Abortion

Tuesday’s election brought little cheer to opponents of abortion.

Candidates who expressed extreme views on the issue cost Republicans two Senate races. Richard Mourdock of Indiana and Todd Akin of Missouri alienated voters by arguing, clumsily, that abortion should be banned even in cases of rape.

Obviously, the entire movement is not as extreme. But the candidates’ fumbles underscore a long-standing conundrum: If you believe life begins at conception and must be protected, how is the way the life began relevant? The rape exception exists only because the alternative is politically unpalatable.

How unpalatable? In exit polls Tuesday, just 13% of voters said abortion should be illegal in all cases. In 1975, two years after Roe v. Wade, Gallup put the number at 22%.

The fight will go on, but the argument isn’t moving the meter much. Abortion will remain legal.

Better to make it unnecessary.