Ignoring pro-lifers?

In this post, from the American Scene blog, Ross Douthat wonders why the "mainstream" press has almost entirely ignored Ramesh Ponnuru's new book, "The Party of Death."  After all, even if one were of the view that the book is highly partisan (in the Ann Coulter or James Carville -- or Kevin Phillips -- vein), that would hardly distinguish it from all kinds of books that are reviewed and commented upon in the Times, the Post, etc.  Douthat writes:

I don't mean this just in a whiney, "pay-attention- to-us" kind of way - though of course the pro-life movement would be much better off if the mainstream press did take pro-life arguments more seriously. I'm also genuinely curious about what pro-choicers think about Ramesh's arguments. More generally, I'm curious about why so many sensitive, highly-intelligent writers - for whose opinions, on most questions, I have the utmost respect - seem to be so untroubled by America's completely-permissive approach to abortion law. I can understand why smart people are pro-choice; I have a harder time understanding why smart people are so blithe about it, so happy to caricature pro-lifers as women-hating religious fanatics and nothing more, so unwilling to consider any restrictions on what is, however you slice it, a practice that involves doing fatal violence to a form of human life.