The "Democrats Should Keep Open Mind on Abortion" NPR piece made the case against abortion not because of religious reasons, but because of an "anti-violence" perspective.
However, commentator Frederica Mathewes-Green is a columnist for "Christianity Today." Her website, www.frederica.com, contains all sorts of outrageous essays, including many that oppose reproductive rights on religious grounds. She also advocates FOR teen pregnancy, arguing that women should marry and have babies prior to age 25. And that way MEN wouldn't have to control their urges for so long! Ugh.

I am deeply saddened that standing up for one’s personal beliefs has been denounced as ‘politically incorrect.’ I joined the Democratic Party with the belief that being independent was a virtue respected by the group. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party is now bowing to the same pressure from Christian groups as the Republicans. I don’t want to be associated with a party that will trade in its values for votes.

Any chance you could call her Senator Clinton, rather than Mrs. Clinton? That so grates on my nerves that she alone of all the senators is routinely given the title "Mrs." over the title "Senator." The Times did it, too, in their article, but that's no excuse for seeing it in feministing.com. Thanks.

I agree the link should have referred to Hillary as "Sen. Clinton." But in defense of the Times' usage of "Mrs. Clinton," their accepted style is to refer to all politicians as "Mr." or "Mrs." on second reference. (Even our beloved president must settle for "Mr. Bush.") The Times gave Sen. Clinton her proper title on first reference.

I believe the original title of the article was: On Abortion, Mrs. Clinton Reaches Out, which is the only reason "Mrs." was used. Hannah, am I correct?

You guys should know us better than that! ;)

The Times headline reads: "Clinton Seeking Shared Ground Over Abortions" not "On Abortion, Mrs. Clinton Reaches Out" so I assumed that was Hannah's tag line, no?

And who is "you guys"???!

In any case, I truly appreciate Feministing and read it daily.

'you guys' was just a general reference to anyone who had a similar concern...apologies if it came off weird...

as far as the headline, nytimes online actually changes headlines throughout the day on some stories...i'll check with hannah to see if that was the case. but knowing hannah i really don't think these were her words. she's not one to use mrs. and she's not one to use such a journalistic title...but i'm sure she'll explain once she sees all the comments about this!

Thanks, Jessica. And also, Anna, I wrote to the Times to ask them about their policy, but haven't heard anything yet. I figured that's what they do, but other media outlets have again and again referred to her as Mrs. Clinton, rather than as Senator Rodham Clinton, as if trying to maintain her identity as the wife of a president and not a senator in her own right. My pet peeve: not representing the work that women do. Sorry for the rant.

rant away! i agree with you...

According to this piece ( http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?030127ta_talk_hertzberg ), "in the Times every living person gets his or her last name preceded by a title—usually Mr., Mrs., or Ms.—unless he or she is being written about in the sports section or is a little kid or is a high-art legend (Pavarotti, for example) or has a goofy stage name like Meat Loaf". Also, the Times "tries to accommodate people's wishes in such matters", so it is quite possible that HRC has (for better or for worse) signed off on "Mrs. Clinton".

The reply I received from the New York Times regarding house style:

"From our stylebook:

'In general, government officials may be Dr., Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. after being introduced by their main titles: Gov. Toby K. Lamm; Governor Lamm; Ms. Lamm. But judges and uniformed personnel (military, police, fire) keep specialized titles in all references. Religious titles vary by denomination and are listed separately."

Additionally, we often refer to presidents as Mr.'s on second reference. Also from the stylebook:

"president. It is President Lamm (without a given name) in a first reference to the current president of the United States. In later references: President Lamm; the president; Mr. (or Ms., Miss or Mrs.) Lamm. In first references to presidents of other countries, use given names and ordinarily middle initials. For other presidents ­ of companies, associations, clubs, universities and organizations ­ lowercase the title and separate it from the name (before or after) with a comma."

We hope this helps.
Regards,

Joan Taylor
NYTimes.com
Customer Service"

Good to know!