Speaking as someone who was born to a teenage mother after Roe v. Wade (and less than 50 miles from Sarah Palin's birthplace, btw), I can tell you morality is very important. I was adopted, so naturally I support adoption.

However, I also recognize that morality - while a fundamental part of any functioning society - is not an appropriate area of government jurisdiction. Such is the basis of my own pro-choice view. There's more to any society than its government. It's a shame so many politicians are blind to what should be obvious.

The underlying implication in all socially conservative "family values" policy is that government is the only institution worth caring about, and that other institutions in our society (i.e. family, friends, religion, etc.) are somehow ineffective or don't matter. Many contemporary liberals make exactly the same assumption, arguing that government shouldn't enforce morality, but at the same time neglecting to consider - or even being openly disdainful of - the institutions that should. The end result often devolves not into a debate of more vs. less government, but into a debate of which flavor of more government do you want?

A second underpinning of the conservative agenda is that morality is universal. Of course, it isn't. The notion of a planned and controlled society is much the same - and just as foolhardy as - that of a planned and controlled economy. Both are inherently anti-freedom, and both are doomed to failure.