The always-on-top-of-things Michael Paulson up at The Boston Globe has a good story this morning that ties together all the loose ends in dissecting how the Catholic/abortion question has played itself out this election season.

The bottom line, in Paulson’s own words: “The urgency of the bishops reflects an increasing concern about a new argument posed by some antiabortion intellectuals and organizations: that the legislative battle to outlaw abortion is hopeless and that antiabortion groups would be better off devoting themselves to preventing unwanted pregnancies and persuading pregnant women to carry their fetuses to term rather than trying to change the laws of the land. The discussion is taking place within evangelical Protestantism, as well as among Roman Catholics, but it is more visible in the Catholic Church because of the high profile of Catholic bishops.”