'Born Alive' Brings Debate Alive
While it was hardly a keystone of the final presidential debate, the life issue did make a brief-but fiery-debut at the hands of moderator Bob Schieffer. Though Schieffer wrapped the abortion question in the broader topic of litmus tests for judges, it quickly became a defining moment of the night, drawing sharp contrasts between the candidates on the fundamental issue of life. On Roe v. Wade, Sen. Obama defended his support for abortion-on-demand by equating the "right" to kill an unborn child with our First Amendment rights, saying that neither "should be subject to popular vote." In his response, Sen. McCain, who said he was "proudly pro-life," outlined how Obama had "align[ed] [himself] with the extreme aspect of the pro-abortion movement in America." He pointed to Obama's record in the Illinois State Senate, where, in the Judiciary Committee, he voted against a law "that would provide immediate medical attention to a child born of a failed abortion." McCain went on, "Then there was another bill... in the state of Illinois... where [Obama] voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion... [They were] clear-cut votes... in direct contradiction to the feelings and views of mainstream America."
Obama claimed that he would never vote to withhold protection from an infant. However, records from the Illinois State Senate show that he did exactly that-not once but four times. He also said that at the time a law similar to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act was already on the books. Also false. According to Jill Stanek, the pro-life nurse who blew the whistle on this neglect, there was no such thing as across-the-board protection for infants who survive an abortion. Instead, the law protected only those "survivors their abortionist deems fit to live."
What's more, Sen. Obama said last night that he is "completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health." That statement ignores the fact that the Supreme Court has defined "health" in the abortion context to include such factors as "psychological" and "financial" well-being, that is, just about anything. For more on Obama's abortion views, check out Professor Robby George's latest editorial at www.thepublicdiscourse.com.
Additional Resources
Robert George: Obama's Abortion Extremism
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