Except here's the thing, Yuval: Sometime soon, the Senate will be voting on a Supreme Court nominee. Among other things, I would like a senator to make sure that a nominee believes in a constitutional right to privacy, even though it's not written into the document itself.

An anti-choice senator would be unlikely to press for such a thing, and would have little trouble justifying voting for cloture. All of a sudden, your neat distinction between harmless federal anti-choice politicians and dangerous state anti-choice politicians seems less reassuring.

here is some supplemental information from my home state. It seems that state Republicans want to restrict abortions to the point where they are no longer availed for a large portion of the population.

What are the chances of a pro-life democrat fighting against a pro-life supreme court justice nominee? I actually think they're pretty fair as most moderate (read: not the insane right) pro-lifers realize the difference between direct legislation (which they have immediate control over) and court rulings (which, of course, after the nomination they have much less control over). Hopefully Harry Reid, Bob Casey, et al. will fight a strict pro-life nominee (which will be an almost guaranteed appointment by the Bush administration).

Broken link. here is the information.