Abortion and Obama

Except for the early days of the 70s woman's movement when I attended lunch talks in the OSU library and carried my poster down at the courthouse in support of the ERA, I've met almost no women who identify themselves as "pro-abortion." They always say, "I believe in a woman's right to choose," or "I wouldn't have an abortion myself, but I want other women to make their own decision." We generally don't say that about other laws that involve killing. I try to be consistent about life and death issues without lapsing into values clarification, the parlor game liberals like to play.

I don't support the death penalty even for the most heinous crime; I believe in certain health regulations like required vaccinations and safety codes, because the lives they save are more important than the rights you choose; I wouldn't have tobacco stock in my portfolio no matter what the returns; I believe good intentions sometimes have disastrous results--like removing DDT from the international market which killed millions of Africans; I believe communism in the 20th century killed more human beings than all other despotic forms of government combined; I believe the US government and its flipped coin the anti-war movement contributed to the deaths of millions of Vietnamese when we fled our responsibilities, and we're getting pay back now from the resurrected 60s radicals. So, am I concerned about a presidential candidate who is vigorously pro-abortion? As Sarah would say, You betcha!

"Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.

Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals-even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals - who aggressively promote Obama's candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.

. . . Senator Obama, despite the urging of pro-life members of his own party, has not endorsed or offered support for the Pregnant Women Support Act, the signature bill of Democrats for Life, meant to reduce abortions by providing assistance for women facing crisis pregnancies. In fact, Obama has opposed key provisions of the Act, including providing coverage of unborn children in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), and informed consent for women about the effects of abortion and the gestational age of their child. This legislation would not make a single abortion illegal. It simply seeks to make it easier for pregnant women to make the choice not to abort their babies. Here is a concrete test of whether Obama is "pro-choice" rather than pro-abortion. He flunked. Even Senator Edward Kennedy voted to include coverage of unborn children in S-CHIP. But Barack Obama stood resolutely with the most stalwart abortion advocates in opposing it."

What is going on here?