PARAMUS, New Jersey- The issue has the ability to stir envy, to inspire a quest for dubious privilege, and to offend the handicapped and the pregnant all at the same time. Which is why the most dangerous topic in New Jersey politics is not the budget, not the sales tax, not state pension benefits. No, it’s Assemblyman John F. McKeon’s proposal to specifically include pregnancy as grounds for using handicapped parking spaces.

　　Maybe it’s not Iraq, but what must have seemed simple at first has since prompted a lot of talk. So Amy Goldstein of Tenafly, stopping for a break with her 2-year-old son, at first thought, why not?

　　 “Have you ever tired walking a half-mile when you’re nine month pregnant?” she asked. But then she reconsidered, wondering how many women needed such a privilege, how many people already abuse the handicapped designation, and whether the new role world take places from handicapped people.

　　Many women feel it would make those long last months a bit more bearable. Others say it demeans women as frail and needy.

　　 “Absolutely ridiculous,” because “since when is being pregnant a handicap?” asked Anita Young of the National Organization for Women of New Jersey.

　　Some older people say, hey, what about us?

　　Groups representing the disabled have said the proposal would transfer scarce handicapped spots from those who really need them to those who would sort of like them.

　　This, of course, is extremely serious business for people with disabilities. But, as anyone who spends time driving around knows, one of life’s mysteries is what’s wrong with some of those people using handicapped spaces, many of whom may be using outdated handicapped tags, driving their handicapped father’s car and using the spot anyway, or just parking where they feel like.

　　Actually, the bill does try to define who is eligible, specifically by requiring a doctor’s certification that a woman’s mobility is limited because of her pregnancy. Mr. McKeon said it would affect only a small number of women for a short period of time. But those who work with the disabled say such women can already apply for temporary tags, so why open the door to any pregnant woman?

　　Perhaps the bravest person in New Jersey is Michael Riley, a columnist for the Asbury Park Press. Mr. Riley, who says he has married for 25 years and is the father of four, began an entry on his blog by announcing: “let me go on the record as saying I’m generally in favor of anything that makes pregnant women less cranky.” He said, as he understood the bill, it would affect only some women, not “those super model types who gain hardly any weight at all,” but those he calls “the waddlers.”

　　And how to tell which is which, he was asked?

　　“I can’t define it,” he said over the phone, “but I know it when I see it.”