Barack Obama on Abortion

I promised quotes yesterday from Barack Obama on abortion. Here you are:

"And there’s a lot at stake in this election, especially for our daughters. To appreciate that all you have to do is review the recent decisions handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States. For the first time in Gonzales versus Carhart, the Supreme Court held—upheld a federal ban on abortions with criminal penalties for doctors. For the first time, the Court’s endorsed an abortion restriction without an exception for women’s health. The decision presumed that the health of women is best protected by the Court—not by doctors and not by the woman herself. That presumption is wrong."

"I have worked on these issues for decades now. I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught Constitutional Law. Not simply as a case about privacy but as part of the broader struggle for women’s equality."

"There will always be people, many of goodwill, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."
Speech before Planned Parenthood Action Fund, July 17, 2007

"On an issue like partial birth abortion, I strongly believe that the state can properly restrict late-term abortions. I have said so repeatedly. All I've said is we should have a provision to protect the health of the mother, and many of the bills that came before me didn't have that."
Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, April 27, 2008

Q: What is your view on the decision on partial-birth abortion and your reaction to most of the public agreeing with the court's holding?

A: I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don't make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy. And I think that's where most Americans are. Now, when you describe a specific procedure that accounts for less than 1% of the abortions that take place, then naturally, people get concerned, and I think legitimately so. But the broader issue here is: Do women have the right to make these profoundly difficult decisions? And I trust them to do it. There is a broader issue: Can we move past some of the debates around which we disagree and can we start talking about the things we do agree on? Reducing teen pregnancy; making it less likely for women to find themselves in these circumstances.
2007 South Carolina Democratic primary debate, MSNBC, Apr 26, 2007

Ah, the lovely non-answers you get from pro-abortion candidates.

The fact is a "health" exception in any abortion legislation would be defined by the U.S. Supreme Court very broadly to include anything that could impact a woman's health-- whether it's her age, circumstances, family or monetary issues. In 1973, the Court felt that any and all of these could be defined as "health" and this has not been redefined. Of course the person, by law,who gives the green light for the abortion is the abortionist.

Barack Obama is not stupid but his words would indicate a severe ignorance of abortion law--especially for a lawyer who claims to have made Roe the "center" of his lesson on "reproductive rights" when he "taught" Constitutional law.

But keep in mind Barack Obama is not stupid-- he knows exactly what he is saying. He is deliberately using words of assurance before large audiences. But read the first quotes-- those are the ones spoken before abortion activists. They are the ones you need to pay attention to because they are the most truthful and representative of his true position on the issue.