Monday, June 30, 2008

The Audacity of Death

From the Wall Street Journal
As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama twice opposed legislation to define as "persons" babies who survive late-term abortions...Mr. Obama said in a speech on the Illinois Senate floor that he could not accept that babies wholly emerged from their mother's wombs are "persons," and thus deserving of equal protection under the Constitution's 14th Amendment.


From HumanEvents.com

In 2002, as an Illinois legislator, Obama voted against the Induced Infant Liability Act, which would have protected babies that survived late-term abortions. That same year a similar federal law, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, was signed by President Bush. Only 15 members of the U.S. House opposed it, and it passed the Senate unanimously on a voice vote.


From the Northwest Herald
He had a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights...One vote that especially riled abortion opponents involved restrictions on a type of abortion where the fetus sometimes survives, occasionally for hours.

The restrictions, which never became law, included requiring the presence of a second doctor to care for the fetus.
...Obama – who joined several other Democrats in voting “present” in 2001 and “no” the next year – argued the legislation was worded in a way that unconstitutionally threatened a woman’s right to abortion by defining the fetus as a child.

“It would essentially bar abortions because the equal protection clause does not allow somebody to kill a child, and if this was a child then this would be an anti-abortion statute,” Obama said in the Senate’s debate in March 2001.


From Politico.com
"Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old," he said. "I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby"