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From my latest article at RNS:

If you believe in human rights for all, including the unborn, you “don’t want to live in the modern world.” Your position is “extreme” — something we’d expect from “terrorist groups.”

That’s what Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said last week at a speech in Cleveland where she blasted “out of date, out of touch policies” on abortion. We’re going forward, she said. Not backwards.

Here are four reasons Clinton should apologize for such inflammatory rhetoric.

1. She shouldn’t label an opposing position as “extreme” just because she doesn’t agree with it.

The United States is evenly divided between so-called “pro-choice” and “pro-life” lines. Do half of Americans have “extreme” views because they believe in an unborn baby’s right to life? To call a viewpoint “extreme” is a convenient way of dismissing it out of hand without ever dealing with its substance.

2. How can she call the Republican position extreme when she belongs to a party that opposes virtually any regulation of abortion at any stage of pregnancy?

The Democratic platform on abortion fits nicely with North Korea and China — who (along with Canada) are the only countries in the world that allow abortion after viability for any reason. Would Clinton label Europe’s abortion regulations as extreme? Take France, Germany, Belgium. There, the abortion cutoff is 12 weeks, at the end of the first trimester.

3. Comparing pro-life advocates to terrorist groups like ISIS is not only offensive, it’s silly.

In light of the Planned Parenthood videos, that assertion can easily backfire.

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