Obama and Abortion
As one of our readers commented earlier today, Barack Obama supported a rather extreme view on abortion earlier in his career. One has to, of course, wonder whether he supports the same quite radical policies today, but years ago, he did indeed believe that it doctors should be allowed to let babies who survived an abortion die nonetheless.
Although it could be argued that Obama holds a lot of mainstream views today, this particular view was not mainstream at all. There are not a whole lot of people who believe that this is acceptable, not in the most liberal states in America, let alone the rest of the country.
The debate about abortion, however, is often used as a means to discredit the other side completely. Those who call themselves ‘pro-choice’ often discredit the other side by pretending that they do not support freedom, and want to determine what women do with their own bodies. ‘Pro-lifers,’ on the other hand, often brand opponents as ‘evildoers’ and ‘babykillers.’ This too is unproductive and, not unimportant, useless for the greater debate.
In the end, the debate about abortion often comes down to very basic values and principles. None of these values and principles are inherently wrong. Rather, both sides adhere to them to one degree or another. The only question is what principle trumps the other. For conservatives, this is the principle of the individual’s right to life (aside from the debate about the constitution of course). For progressives, on the other hand, it is not having the government determine for one how to live, how to think, and what choices one makes.
Both of these principles are important in liberal democracies, and both are embraced by both sides to a significant degree.
It is important that both sides of the debate keep that in mind.
This isn’t just about the bill you’re talking about. His view that there should be no parental notification laws is also outside of the mainstream.
He’s taken a decidedly hard left view that any type of law on abortion is curtailing the right of choice, and somehow is jeopardizing Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood has been a heavy financial supporter of Obama’s campaigns because he’s taken these positions; how much of it is Obama’s real position and how much of it has been him pandering to get campaign funds and support in the liberal city of Chicago is up for argument.
c’mon, that statement “years ago, he did indeed believe that it doctors should be allowed to let babies who survived an abortion die nonetheless” has been shown as misleading long ago. the bill this regards contained other language that obama disagreed with on which he voted against this bill. he never believed that doctors should not be allwed to let babies survive if they happened to survive an abortion attempt. why don’t you discuss some real issues and beliefs of the candidates rather than old stale smears? love the internet, but damn it gives a voice to every moron out there.
“…has been shown as misleading long ago. the bill this regards contained other language that obama disagreed with on which he voted against this bill. Good Point Zach, round and round we go. ” I think the American people realize that there many bills have many parts to them, and some parts and not others can be the reason for voting / not voting for a particular bill. Obama and McCain both do these sorts of attacks, and they should both stop attacking as far as votes on Bills go (specifically if a bill has many proposals in them). However, weather one votes “present”, or actually votes one way or the other is fair game to criticise as far as I am concerned.
It’s fair to point out that Obama had his reasons for voting against the bill, but every other Democrat in the State Senate voted for it.
The fact is, that nobody thinks Obama wants these born alive infants to be killed, but that he has taken extreme positions in defending the pro-choice line of politics. He is like those few politicians who vote against partial birth abortion bans because of some convoluted made up argument that if they let the ban pass, that conseratives will use the precedent to overturn abortion rights, and the country will return to women using clothes hangers.
I don’t know whether Obama really believed in the reasons he gave for voting against it, or that he voted the way he did just to get money from the Planned Parenthood lobby.
But the fact is, once again, all the other Democrats voted for it. And it was, in fact, an extreme position.
Some of those at Planned Parenthood, btw, do want them to die, because there are radicals on this issue on the left as well as the right. Politicians who get money from them to vote a certain way then later end up defending their vote on that type of convoluted ground, that the legislation will some where along the line be used to overturn Roe v. Wade.