Up until now, Republicans who don't fully buy into the rabid dog pro-criminalization agenda of the radical right have had to just shut up and pretend not to believe that a woman has a right to her own body.

The so-called "social conservatives" were probably counting on that when they called for an all-out culture war over the nomination of Samuel Alito. They hope to cow the majority of Americans who support reproductive rights while they embark on a concerted effort to get Alito confirmed.

But now Republicans are daring to speak out against this radical right's push for authoritarian government regulation of private lives.

ST. LOUIS - Former Gov. Christie Whitman called on moderate Republicans on Thursday to become more vocal within the party as she helped launch a new chapter of a GOP group that supports abortion rights.

Whitman said she fears the far right has too much power in her party, which she wants to return to core principles such as "the restriction of government intrusion into our everyday lives."

I confess I like Whitman. I lived in New York when she was governor of New Jersey, and got the sense that she was doing okay ... at least for a state that has such messed-up politics.

Her quitting Bush's EPA over principle also earned some of my respect.

Now her push on reproductive rights -- another voice in what I hope is a political trend to take undamental human and civil rights for women out of the distorting lens of party politics. I've always thought that the dominionist Republicans' neo-fascist ambitions were an odd mix with the corporatist Republicans' anti-regulation agenda -- unless we're talking nostalgia for the Victorian days portrayed in Dickens' Hard Times.

Whitman lent her support to the new chapter of the Republicans for Choice Committee, which is part of an effort by Republicans and Planned Parenthood to increase support for abortion rights within the party. The committee also supports funding for family planning programs and age-appropriate sex education.

Expect this Planned Parenthood endeavor to draw the embittered enmity of staunch Democratic Party supporters, especially those who've been asserting that any Democrat, even one of the "Democrats for Life," will back reproductive rights more than any Republican, even a pro-choice Republican. But given how wobbly and unreliable the Democrats have become on reproductive rights, I for one am glad that Planned Parenthood has joined NARAL in seeking out allies on both sides of the aisle. Let's hope this helps the silent majority find their voices and speak out against the extremists in their party.

So who are the Republicans for Choice?

Republicans for Choice began in the late 1980s, but increased its efforts in the last five years or so, said Darlee Crockett, co-chair of the Republicans for Choice National Committee.

"We have 15 to 20 chapters formed or in formation," with a database that allows them to reach about 300,000 Republicans who support abortion rights, Crockett said....

"I think people are starting to say, 'enough,'" Crockett said. "I think there's a growing concern that the Republican Party has been taken over by a small, but very vocal, minority."

This development is also sure to draw the ire of the chattel caucus, but so far the GOP is putting a smiley face on it:

John Hancock, a spokesman for the Missouri Republican Party, said he wasn't concerned about disagreement among party members over abortion rights.

"We are the majority party in America, and our two-party system necessitates a divergence of viewpoints within each political party," Hancock said. "We welcome the support of pro-choice Republicans and value the support of our pro-life Republicans as well."

I believe this is called having your cake and eating it, too. The intolerance of the "pro-life" position, which would bring politicians and the government into private medical decisions, would seem to preclude any acknowledgment, let alone acceptance, of pro-reproductive rights folks into the dialogue, let alone into their ranks. That's about as likely as the racial integration of the KKK.

Still, one can hope.

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