A Year Ago Today. . .

Barack Obama spoke before activists from Planned Parenthood on July 17, 2007 and vowed that, on the issue of abortion, he would not be swayed.

From the speech:

"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."

". . .[T]the first thing I’d do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. [Applause.] That’s the first thing that I’d do."

"But I also think it’s important to understand that there’s nothing wrong in voting against nominees who don’t appear to share a broader vision of what the Constitution is about. . . what you’ve got to look at is—what is in the justice’s heart. What’s their broader vision of what America should be. . . .we need somebody who’s got the heart—the empathy—to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old—and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges. Alright?"

Alright--based on his own statements, Barack Obama would sign the Freedom of Choice Act which would entrench Roe v. Wade into law. It would overturn protective legislation such at parental notification or women's right to know laws. And it would overturn the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Barack Obama's record shows that he is vehemently opposed to any protective legislation, including the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. He would rather have a premature baby, born alive following an abortion, die alone in a maintenance closet, lying on a cold metal table, than have a law passed that would impede the ability of groups like Planned Parenthood to make a few bucks. And before someone shoots back to say that he explained his vote in the Relevant magazine article, he failed to confess one small detail. His claim that the law didn't exactly mirror the federal law? That was his fault. He was the legislator who blocked attempts to add the federal language that clarified the bill's purpose.