Posted on 08/19/2015 8:39:42 AM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 18, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - Republicans most trust Dr. Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee to handle the issue of abortion, according to a recent CNN poll. However, a series of statements from Carson's campaign, and from Dr. Carson himself, have led to questions about the clarity of his pro-life views about when life begins, how RU-486 works, and his views on experimenting with aborted fetal tissue, among other issues.
On Tuesday, the Carson campaign defended his decision to refer women to abortionists if the child suffered from fetal deformities.
"Referring it on does not mean he is advocating it," campaign spokesman Doug Watts told Politico. "He’s advocating they are getting qualified medical supervision. He has always believed that the battle over abortion had to be waged in the hearts and minds of Americans, that you cannot legislate morality. But he also believes we’re winning the debate.”
Carson told the Baltimore Sun in 1992, “As a physician who does not believe in abortion, when faced with a patient who has severe medical problems, I would refer someone for an abortion."
"I would never advocate it’s illegal for a person to get an abortion," the doctor said at the time. "I think in the long run we do a lot of harm when we bludgeon people."
Carson made the statement the same year he participated in a study that examined tissues derived from two aborted children. While Carson played no role in harvesting or handling the tissue, he strongly defends medical experimentation with aborted babies, calling opposition to the practice "foolish." Rick Santorum has said he would never engage in medical research that was "morally suspect."
Recent misstatements also called into question whether he believes life begins at conception.
On August 12, Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked Carson, “At the point of conception - do you see that as life, Doctor?”
“Certainly once the heart starts beating - certainly at that point," Carson replied.
While he has said he opposes abortion without exceptions, he told Cavuto, "in cases of rape and incest, I would hope that [mothers] would very quickly avail themselves of emergency room and in the emergency room, they have the ability to administer, you know, RU-486, other possibilities, before you have a developing fetus."
Carson later said that he misspoke.
"I think when conception occurs, life occurs," he told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. He also told ABC's This Week program, "I believe that life begins at conception."
He said that his remarks to Cavuto meant to imply that both sides of the abortion debate would be able to agree that life begins when a fetal heartbeat can be detected - usually within the first six weeks of pregnancy.
When asked about "RU-486," he responded, "I think when conception occurs, life occurs. But I do believe in contraception."
"The egg is only fertilizable at certain times - and there are certain types of drugs, progestins, that can prevent ovulation...if ovulation doesn’t occur, you’re not going to have conception."
The Carson campaign later said Carson meant to speak of "emergency contraception," not the RU-486 abortion pill.
However, one of the world's foremost authorities on Plan B has said that it, too, acts as an abortifacient.
Dr. James Trussell, the director of Princeton’s Office of Population Research, wrote in 2013, "To make an informed choice, women must know that [emergency contraceptive pills]…prevent pregnancy primarily by delaying or inhibiting ovulation and inhibiting fertilization, but may at times inhibit implantation of a fertilized egg in the endometrium."
Dr. Carson is currently second in national polls of Republican presidential hopefuls, behind only Donald Trump.
I can’t support him due to the fact I have a long term memory and am vetting our current roster thoroughly.
I don’t want to sit down to vote as I did last go’round and have to vote AGAINST the Democrat. Though, the only relief there at the time was the word Ryan.
I want to vote FOR someone in an honest manner and Trump is not that person I could honestly sit down and vote for.
If he had “confessed” months ago, it wouldn’t make a difference. The binary voters would have just moved him to the ‘unacceptable’ column at that point.
Stick a fork in him, he’s done. Referring some to an abortionists is morally repulsive and speaks volumes on the condition of his heart.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason. -- T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral
Some hills are worth dying on. Some hills are NOT worth dying on.
But the life of an unborn child? I'd die on that hill a MILLION times before I would walk away from it so I could win something.
At the end of this life...GOD will determine who eventually wins and loses...and I do not want to be found on the wrong side of God. And make no mistake...abortion is a scheme of God's enemy, Satan. He (Satan) was a murderer from the beginning (Jon 8:44)...and in eternity I will not be found on the side of a murderer so that I might gain some temporary victory.
Maybe you can sell your soul...but I won't.
Also as far as Carson goes, which is what I should have added to the previous post, I wanted him in my short list, but I’m being tough this go around and the pill thing really ends it for him.
Toast
I'd say most people here are.
Wrong. It refers to his heart at that time. Not now. You won't understand this if you've never sinned and needed forgiveness...and have found it...then looked back and realized that you too had a depraved heart at one time.
Did Herman Cain have an extramarital affair? I thought it was all rumor.
*click*
He goes from acceptable to unacceptable with a flip of a switch.
And that’s how we got Dole, McCain and Romney. Binary voters. If someone isn’t 100% acceptable, they are 100% unacceptable.
He was accused. He denied. Therefore he is guilty.
As I recall, he did ... and had made payments to the woman ...
It’a good to hear from Carlson. He might be a cabinet pick.
BUt, its either Trump or Cruz for President.
I wonder what Sarah Palin would say about this revelation?
Excuse me, Carson.
People who are genuinely pro-life understand that this very much is a black and white issue.
Unless ALL human life is sacred, ALL are vulnerable. We have seen this again and again throughout history.
And, for the record, I have met Dr. Carson and am extremely impressed with him on nearly all other issues.
I am even prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps he misspoke or that he held positions in the past that he no longer holds. However, IF this is the case, he needs to explain his evolution on the matter and what he really believes. I've found that those who are genuinely pro-life are quite comfortable doing this; but those who are claiming to be pro-life for political convenience are constantly making blunders that reveal their true position (look at Mitt Romney).
Incorrect, somewhere he said he did but did not concern himself with the source of the aborted baby, nor concerned with pricing or something like that. Has anyone asked if he witnessed or ever performed an abortion?
BTTT
Nope. But way to keep the smears going.
When he worked in DC as the head of a restaurant industry organization, he was accused by four women of sexual harassment. The organization paid them to drop the charges, less than $100,000 each which speaks to the validity of the claims. He was also accused by a woman for having a long term affair.
Cain denied, and has consistently denied, all charges and accusations against him.
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