Why did Hillary Clinton swing towards an extreme pro-abortion position?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

The irony is that Hillary's position is the position she strongly believes in and frankly is supported by most people who understand the issue - her problem is that unlike Trump, she is too honest and the people elected the guy willing to lie to them so they can hear what they want rather than the honest person sincerely trying to improve our country.

Lol!

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Sometimes what's right isn't what's popular. Hence her hesitancy to embrace Bernie Sanders' dishonest "free everything" platform (though he certainly pulled her to the edge).

Yeah, letting people die because they can't afford healthcare is definitely the right thing to do. How principled.

Because stating that universal healthcare is free totally isn't dishonest(the sanders platform is effectively "hey rich white #trueleftist millenials, you get free s**t")

Universal healthcare costs money. This is a simple fact. Claiming that its free is dishonest. Especially considering that sanders claimed the program would save more over insurers then Americans pay insurers overall.

[uti2]

Most Americans are pro-choice. Exits from 2012

http://www.gallup.com/poll/183434/americans-choose-pro-choice-first-time-seven-years.aspx

These are from '12 exits but the numbers won't have changed that much.

Fortunately Hispanics are the most opposed! Open up those borders! http://www.pewforum.org/2016/04/08/public-opinion-on-abortion-2/#views-on-abortion-by-level-of-education-2016

Not US born Hispanics, and the conversation is changing in Latin America too due to zika.

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2014/10/16/chapter-2-latinos-views-on-selected-2014-ballot-measure-issues/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/23/health/zika-virus-abortion-pill-latin-america.html

[Lachi]

It's interesting to see how opinions on abortion differ from country to country.

Especially comparing the U.S. to Australia, where opinion is extremely heavily pro-choice, and most states have pretty much unrestrictive laws up until around 20-24 weeks, which is the case in Victoria, arguably the most progressive state in the country. Here it's legal on request until 24 weeks, after which the approval of 2 doctors is needed.

Tl;dr Australia is extremely pro-choice, and it's interesting to compare the US, and Australia

[justfollowingtheelections]

Sometimes what's right isn't what's popular. Hence her hesitancy to embrace Bernie Sanders' dishonest "free everything" platform (though he certainly pulled her to the edge).

Yeah, letting people die because they can't afford healthcare is definitely the right thing to do. How principled.

Because stating that universal healthcare is free totally isn't dishonest(the sanders platform is effectively "hey rich white #trueleftist millenials, you get free s**t")

Universal healthcare costs money. This is a simple fact. Claiming that its free is dishonest. Especially considering that sanders claimed the program would save more over insurers then Americans pay insurers overall.

WTF are you talking about?  You're clearly talking out of your behind if you think Bernie's message was healthcare is free.  Educate yourself first before you criticize someone who know nothing about and clearly didn't spend more than 5 minutes listening to.

[Averroës Nix]

There's a pithy line out there about how referring to public universities as free college or public health insurance as free health care is like referring to a Navy aircraft carrier as a free warship.

The entire "free stuff" bit  always came across as not just confused but bizarre. It's an attack that substitutes semantic judo for a substantive point, like a bargain-bin version of Anselm's ontological argument that somehow made its way into contemporary US politics.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Because the Democratic base is that extreme.

Nowadays, yes.

This area, however, is one of the few areas where Hillary Clinton was "authentic".  She's an authentic Radical Feminist, prepared to take extreme stances on issues of gender politics because she's an Extreme Gender Feminist.  She really believes that men are responsible for an overwhelming amount of our social problems.  She really does advocate policies that are discriminatory toward men.  She's obsessed with the "glass ceiling" issue to the point where she is blinded to how much so many Americans are in a box to where they can't even see the "glass ceiling".

If this were not true of Hillary, she would have won the Election.  A female Democrat who didn't ooze this, who didn't actively project this, would have beaten Trump.  This, however, is an area where Hillary cannot moderate herself or control herself.  She's a Radical Feminist who'll compromise on economics, but NEVER on "women's issues", no matter how hostile a stance she has to take against males.  This is who she is.  This is who America didn't want.

[Pandaguineapig]

The "abortion should not only be allowable until birth for any reason but also taxpayer funded" is unpopular with most Americans but is the same position as Planned parenthood and NARAL as well as her feminist base. This position didn't cost her the election but it reinforced negative views of her among the working class and Christians

[Intell]

It's interesting to see how opinions on abortion differ from country to country.

Especially comparing the U.S. to Australia, where opinion is extremely heavily pro-choice, and most states have pretty much unrestrictive laws up until around 20-24 weeks, which is the case in Victoria, arguably the most progressive state in the country. Here it's legal on request until 24 weeks, after which the approval of 2 doctors is needed.

Tl;dr Australia is extremely pro-choice, and it's interesting to compare the US, and Australia

Opinions vary between state and party, and there are solid labor areas, that are more pro-lifethan solid liberal areas that are more pro-choice. Labor is generally more pro-abortion and pro-choice than the liberals that is true though.

However most i accept abortion as established law, and just have different opinions to the acceptability and morality of abortion, how regulated and controlled abortion should be, the age limit, and the time limit to which abortion should be legal, and how regulated and restricted it should be during when it's legal, or after it's legal.

[elcorazon]

The irony is that Hillary's position is the position she strongly believes in and frankly is supported by most people who understand the issue - her problem is that unlike Trump, she is too honest and the people elected the guy willing to lie to them so they can hear what they want rather than the honest person sincerely trying to improve our country.

Lol!

I stand by it.

[Devout Centrist]

She lost exactly 0 votes over this. She lost millions over her emails and personality.

[elcorazon]

She lost exactly 0 votes over this. She lost millions over her emails and personality.gender

fixed that for you

[Devout Centrist]

She lost exactly 0 votes over this. She lost millions over her emails and personality.gender

fixed that for you

Shh...I don't want to trigger anyone.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

All of you are missing the point. She didn't need to change her position on abortion - very few people really vote on the issue because if you are passionate enough about the issue you are already voting straight Dem/GOP - the error was making it a HUGE PART of her campiagn. Most of the campaign platform that really was broadcasted to Americans was ultimately the planks that were peripheral to most Americans, as most Americans have never had an abortion, immigrated into the country or care deeply about gun control. These may be important, even commendable issues to talk about; but she for no reason at all Udallised her campaign by lacking broad messaging beyond "Trump is a nasty POS".

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The idea that Clinton lost a large number of votes over her position on abortion as such (as opposed to messaging, the vague miasma of Dennis Reynolds-esque "implication" that she thought anyone who disagreed was a bad person, et cetera--note that Sanders was technically to her left on this issue during the primaries but wasn't identified with it the way she was--which, yes, was in large part due to sexism, but also had something at least to do with the way they campaigned) is pretty silly, but so is the idea that she lost "exactly zero." Campaigning on substantive bread-and-butter issues ought to have been more than enough to make up for it in any case.

Anecdotally I know one single-issue pro-life voter who voted for Clinton on consequentialist grounds and one single-issue pro-choice voter who abstained because she picked a running mate who had the exact same position as the incumbent Vice President, but they're probably one of maybe like a thousand (on either side) such people in the country, at most.

The fact that abortion politics is a partisan issue with, increasingly, nearly 1:1 correlation in this country has always struck me as a pretty horrible feature of American public life, no matter what my position on abortion has been at the time.

[Young Conservative]

The Democrat party does hold a radical position on abortion. She moves with her party not with her own views. She's a true politician...

[JustinTimeCuber]

we have to really ask why hardly any politicians are willing to be moderate, i.e. 20 week ban or something

[Beet]

I would have been willing to moderate in 2008, and again in 2016, had Hillary Clinton won either time. Her win would have been a sign that the patriarchy is crumbling and that no matter what happens, the debate is taking place in a society finally willing to accept women as coequal citizens. Instead, we've taken one giant step closer to normalizing sexual assault by electing Trump, and women's ability to control their own bodies is more important than ever. The last thing I want is Trump literally using government power to grab women's pussies.

[Fuzzy Bear]

It is possible she actually believes her positions on this issue...

She is a woman and she is (arguably) a feminist (or shares feminist views). 

Hating males, not viewing the unborn as human, yes, that's the part about Hillary that's authentic.

Lifting "women and girls" at the expense of "men and boys" is where she's at.  It's what she's honest about.  It's one of the reasons why she doesn't get why she lost.

[Devout Centrist]

It is possible she actually believes her positions on this issue...

She is a woman and she is (arguably) a feminist (or shares feminist views). 

Hating males, not viewing the unborn as human, yes, that's the part about Hillary that's authentic.

Lifting "women and girls" at the expense of "men and boys" is where she's at.  It's what she's honest about.  It's one of the reasons why she doesn't get why she lost.

Arguably the worst thing I've read this year.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Oh, also:

Her opinion wasn't extreme but she should have done a better job in the debates answering that question. The only "ninth month" abortions are done for the mothers life or because of non-viable genetic disorders, but she allowed Trump to imply that they are often elective. She needed to spell this out very explicitly.

So, the only "ninth-month" abortions are EITHER medically necessary OR eugenic/euthanasia? That reminds me of the "BASTARD" and "MESSIAH" options that somebody gave in a poll about Arthur Scargill a while back.