> I would gladly trade all Republican political prospects for criminalizing abortions

We already know the results of that bone-headed idea. Criminalizing abortion does nothing to stop abortion, it only denies women the ability to have a safe abortion. Criminalizing abortion only serves to maim and kill teenage girls. Which is the lesser of two evils, the loss of an unknown potential, or the loss of a known viable individual? I am sure you've heard before the famous wisdom of George Santayana:

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.