Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who has long stated that he is pro-life, wrote in a Tuesday op-ed that he has changed his mind on abortion.
Ryan said he has talked to women throughout Ohio about their experiences with pregnancy and motherhood, leading him to support pro-choice policies.
“These women gave me a better understanding of how complex and difficult certain situations can become. And while there are people of good conscience on both sides of this argument, one thing has become abundantly clear to me: the heavy hand of government must not make this decision for women and families,” he wrote in the Akron Beacon Journal.
The congressman noted that he was raised Catholic and held pro-life beliefs from a young age, but he said that he can no longer support legislation banning abortion.
“No woman makes this decision lightly. Each and every American deserves the right to deal with these difficult situations in consultation with their families, close friends or religious advisers. No federal or state law banning abortion can honestly and fairly take into account the various circumstances that make each decision unique,” he wrote.
“And while I have deep respect for people on both sides of this conversation, I would be abandoning my own conscience and judgment if I held a position that I no longer believed appropriate,” he concluded. “I have come to believe that we must trust women and families — not politicians — to make the best decision for their lives.”
H/t Huffington Post
Good for him. People can change and when they provide honest, thoughtful explanations of why they did so, it’s to everyone’s benefit.
But for conservatives, it’s such a hard catch-22 to be caught in…trying to decide whether to try to force poor, minority communities to be saddled with children they can’t afford OR provide them with the means to stop reproducing faster than white folks. Decisions decisions…
Well, there’s our candidate for governor in 2018.
Well, thank you so much you big hearted compassionate Democratic male for changing your mind and giving your blessings to the women in your life and around you for the abortion they may need or want. They’ll be grateful you now approve of what they do with their bodies…
Wow. Very powerful. Excellent brief encapsulation of the argument against limiting the right to choose.
Ahem…Maybe this is the reason he’s suddenly seen the light…
Its gonna be a tough year for Blue Dog Dems in 2016. And there’s considerable awareness by progressives just who has been on the side of our issues. BTW, from the article I linked to, Rep. Ryan’s district was won by Obama in 2012 by 63%. With a pro-choice candidate, and possibly a pro-choice woman as the Democratic nominee, it would be hard for him to suddenly find time to convince Dems in his district that he’s thoroughly made the shift for anything other than political expediency. Better now than later I say. We’ll see if he sticks to his words.