Free Republic

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama on abortion on Saturday, saying the Democratic presidential candidate has "left behind even the middle ground on the issue of life."

“In this same spirit, as defenders of the culture of life, John McCain and I believe in the goodness and potential of every innocent life. I believe the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves. And who is more vulnerable, or more innocent, than a child? When I learned that my son Trig would have special needs, I had to prepare my heart for the challenges to come. At first I was scared, and Todd and I had to ask for strength and understanding. But I can...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin charged into the culture wars Saturday in Pennsylvania, painting Sen. Barack Obama as a radical on abortion rights. (snip) "A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for activist courts that will continue to smother the open and democratic debate that we deserve and that we need on this issue of life," she said. Palin skewered Obama for voting "present" while in the Illinois State Senate on a bill that would have required medical care for fetuses that survived abortion. "So in short, Sen. Obama is a politician who has long since left behind even the...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With debate moderators not asking any questions of the candidates on abortion, pro-life advocates have been hoping John McCain and Sarah Palin would criticize Barack Obama's pro-abortion record. In a national radio interview on Thursday, Palin did just that and called Obama's record "atrocious." During an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, Palin described Obama's view that abortions should be legal for any reason throughout pregnancy “absolutely atrocious." Palin heavily criticized Obama's votes in the Illinois legislature against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, a bill that would require hospital staff to...

Contact: Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095 ATLANTA, Oct. 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dr. Alveda King, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today said that people cannot lose sight of moral priorities in the face of economic stress. "No doubt, these are troubled times," said Dr. King, "but it's in troubled times that we especially need to remember what's important. What the current economic meltdown should teach us is that our hope is not in the things of this earth, but in God." "If financial pressures cause us to stop loving our...

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin described her rival Barack Obama’s radical position on abortion as “absolutely atrocious” on Laura Ingraham’s radio program Thursday. Palin specifically attacked Obama for his votes against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act as an Illinois State Senator. “His position on this and on life has been his vote against legislation--three times voting against legislation that would provide medical care to a baby born having been a survivor of an abortion,” she said. “It's very appalling and I think if more Americans could understand how absolutely extreme that position is there would be a heckuva...

Don Wheatley is standing outside an abortion clinic in Hartford, his rosary beads trailing through his 73-year-old fingers, talking about why he supports John McCain for president. Part of the reason, he says, is the presence of pro-life candidate Sarah Palin on the ticket. Wheatley is Catholic, and avidly pro-life; he comes out here to pray for an end to abortion every week, he says. But it's more complicated than that, of course. There's also his late wife, Lana Sue. Wheatley begins to talk about Lana Sue, and his focus seems to drift away slowly, until his voice falters, and...

A Humble Plea

US Bishop Clarifies Reasoning of Pro-life Ballot SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, OCT. 3, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Issues beside abortion should be taken into account when voting, but should not be given the same relevance unless they carry the same level of moral gravity, says the bishop of Scranton. In a letter to be read at all Masses this weekend in the diocese, Bishop Joseph Martino considers the argument: "As wrong as abortion is, I don't think it is the only relevant 'life' issue that should be considered when deciding for whom to vote." The prelate clarifies: "This reasoning is sound only if...

It is impossible for me to answer all of the objections to the Church’s teaching on life that we hear every day in the media. Nevertheless, let me address a few. To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others. With regard to the first, reason and science have answered the question. The...

Barack Obama's life has been one dedicated in service to the needs of others. We are all called to build a culture of life - but there's more to it than just hoping that the next Supreme Court justice somehow deals with Roe v. Wade. A bad economy is threatening to human life. Women facing the moral tragedy of abortion - are facing it, now, today - and they need a supportive community and tangible help, not condemnation. As Ronald Reagan's legal counsel and as a dean and professor at Catholic University and Notre Dame, I have worked to put...

Committee for Truth in Politics ad accuses him of voting against protecting infants who survive late term abortions while a state senator. Also suggests he is working to roll back the Supreme Court ban on partial birth abortion. In the spot, a woman speaks over the coos of a newborn baby.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- One of the leading pro-abortion groups in the nation has a new web site ad it is running on news web sites in battleground states. However, the NARAL commercial may backfire and energize pro-life voters behind John McCain and Sarah Palin because it highlights their pro-life views.The ad isn't what political observers might expect from NARAL -- with something akin to the ads the Obama campaign aired saying McCain is too extreme and featuring little in the way of the candidates' own words.NARAL includes eerie music and claims that McCain and Palin are extreme on...

St. Louis, MO (LifeNews.com) -- A handful of pro-life groups plan on protesting abortion at the vice-presidential debate next month featuring pro-abortion candidate Joe Biden and pro-life candidate Sarah Palin. The group say they want to expose the divide between the candidates and show that the Alaska governor is strongly pro-life. Operation Rescue and the Christian Defense Coalition are joining with pro-life groups Defenders of the Unborn, Concerned Women for America, and others to gather at the debate. Mahoney, of the CDC, says he's excited about John McCain selecting Palin as his running mate and thinks it will help turn...

http://www.catholicvote.com/

To hear the political pundits, the issue of abortion is completely off the radar screen for most voters and its importance pales in comparison to other issues. That's not so, especially in three key presidential battleground states, according to a new Marist poll. A new Marist College poll of voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania finds abortion the second, fourth and fifth most important issue, respectively, for voters in what observers say are three of the most important states. In all three polls involving several hundreds registered voters in each state, Marist asked, "When deciding your vote for president, which...

WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The following open letter from the head of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson, to Senator Joseph Biden was published in major newspapers on Friday, September 19, 2008, including USA Today, the Washington Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN Dear Senator Biden: I write to you today as a fellow Catholic layman, on a subject that has become a major topic of concern in this year's presidential campaign. The bishops who have taken public issue with your remarks on the Church's historical position on abortion are far...

Could a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports legalized abortion when there is a choice of another candidate who does not support abortion or any other intrinsically evil policy? Could a voter’s preference for the candidate’s positions on the pursuit of peace, economic policies benefiting the poor, support for universal health care, a more just immigration policy, etc. overcome a candidate’s support for legalized abortion? In such a case, the Catholic voter must ask and answer the question: What could possibly be a proportionate reason for the more than 45 million children killed by abortion in...

I am convinced at the present moment that the pro-life movement is entering a new chapter of this battle. We are closer to victory than ever before, and now is the time to redouble every effort and to push over the finish line. Now is the time to cut off any “dead wood,” any projects that aren’t bearing fruit, any expenditures and efforts that are not actually moving us toward the goal of ending abortion, and any bureaucracy in our structures that is hindering rather than advancing the mission. There is a new thirst for unity in our movement, and...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With all the hoopla of the Democratic and Republican conventions and the selection of pro-life running mate Sarah Palin, a McCain statement on abortion appears to have gone unnoticed. Glamour magazine indicates John McCain repeated his position that Roe v. Wade should be reversed.The women's magazine conducted an interview with the presidential hopeful on July 30 and included the abortion-related clip on its web site on August 30.Asked whether he would "actively seek the demise of Roe v. Wade," McCain confirmed that and said he will not change from that stance."So let me make my point...

Feminists for Life's Honorary Chair and two-time Emmy winner Patricia Heaton and FFL president Serrin M. Foster are available to discuss the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin by presidential nominee Senator John McCain as his running mate. Governor Palin became a member of Feminists for Life in 2006. Feminists for Life of America is a nonsectarian, nonpartisan, grassroots organization that seeks real solutions to the challenges women face.

Sen. John McCain electrified the Republican base and millions of people of every political persuasion last Friday when he selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. Why?   First, because she is a reform-minded, no-nonsense, pro-life, pistol-packing hockey mom with five children. And her pro-life convictions have been illustrated vividly by her decision to carry to term and keep her fifth child, a son with Down syndrome. It is one thing to espouse a pro-life position. It is quite another to live your values and affirm life in this way. Now, it has been revealed that...

Whatever Happened to Family Values?How the GOP gave in to anti-abortion absolutism. By Jacob Weisberg Posted Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008, at 7:02 AM ET In the 1980s, the rising conservative movement tried to frame the pro-life cause as part of a broader family-values agenda that included reducing rates of illegitimate childbirth, welfare dependency, and divorce. To Ronald Reagan and many of his most ardent supporters, abortion-on-demand was the pre-eminent example of the breakdown of traditional morality brought about the sexual revolution. Few remember it this way, but Reagan's "evil empire" speech, delivered to the National Association of Evangelicals in 1983,...

LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an editorial opinion columnist for LifeNews.com.Back in 1984, I was a college student excited about casting my first vote in a Presidential election. I was doing an internship in the GovernorÂ’s Mansion in Ohio, which allowed me the opportunity to attend an event featuring then Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Someone I knew from the GovernorÂ’s office ushered my Dad and me up to the front of a receiving line, and I had the chance to shake hands with candidate Ferraro. As soon as it happened, I turned around and hugged my Dad. I was...

The question has long been posed to conservative male candidates during presidential campaigns: What would you do if your teen daughter became pregnant? Most dodge the question, saying their family lives are off-limits. But Sarah Palin's announcement Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant -- and she supports her daughter -- shows that the Alaska governor is steadfast in her support of family values, GOP loyalists and anti-abortion groups say. "She walks her talk. She has principles that she espouses, and she does not set herself apart from those principles," said Serrin Foster, the president of Feminists for Life of...

Integrity in Politics by Dr. Jeff Mirus, August 29, 2008   The selection of Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as John McCain’s running mate has people thinking about integrity again. Palin is a pro-life mother of four who makes no bones about fighting corruption and standing up for the vulnerable. She opposes abortion not only in speech but in personal practice, having resisted suggestions to abort her own Downs-syndrome child. She swept into office in Alaska by exposing and campaigning against serious ethics violations, and she has the highest approval rating of any significant public figure in any state in...

Call it the Palin effect -- John McCain's choice of Alaska's governor Sarah Palin has motivated many conservatives previously reluctant to support his candidacy to surrender their enthusiastic support. Notably among them is Dr. James Dobson, the very influential conservative leader, who heads the nationwide Focus on the Family organization. Dr. Dobson, who has flatly declared that he would not vote for McCain now says he will, and attributes his change of mind to the senator's choice of solidly conservative pro-life Gov. Palin to be his running mate. Earlier this year, Dr. Dobson had announced on the nationally syndicated “The...

August 29, 2008 FFL Member Nominated for Vice President of the United States Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, has been selected by Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain as his running mate. According to The Anchorage Daily News published August 6, 2006, "Palin said last month that no woman should have to choose between her career, education and her child." The article went onto say that "she's a member of a pro-woman but anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life." "I believe in the strength and the power of women, and the potential of every human life,' she said." Feminists for...

The positive reaction to presidential candidate John McCain picking pro-life Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been overwhelming. Pro-life groups and leaders of all stripes are delighted by the selection and below is a sampling of the comments LifeNews.com has received: Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission: "Governor Palin is a vice-presidential selection which shows that John McCain at the age of 72 today is still able to think outside the box. Governor Palin will delight the Republican base. She is pro-life. It appears that Senator Obama played it safe in picking Senator...

What's a major difference between Obama and Palin? McCainPalinForLife.com has the answer. Blogger and author Dawn Eden has the answer as well: "Palin chose life for her baby with Down syndrome. " "Obama relegated these babies to death despite testimony that at least one aborted-alive Down's baby had been abandoned to die in a hospital soiled-utility room." Visit McCainPalinForLife.com today...

Alexandria, VA, Aug 29, 2008 / 06:15 pm (CNA).- This morning Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska was selected by Sen. John McCain to serve as his vice presidential nominee. Palin brings with her several unique credentials, but one of the most notable is that she is a proud member of Feminists for Life, according to the group’s president Serrin Foster. In an interview with CNA on Friday, Foster explained that her group normally doesn’t disclose its membership, but since Gov. Palin freely spoke about it to the Anchorage Daily News in August of 2006, she could confirm that Palin joined...

Important Update from Rev. Rob Schenck, VIP Guest of the John McCain Campaign as VP Announcement is Made Today Contact: Peggy Birchfield, 202-546-8329, ext 103; Rev. Rob Schenck, 703-447-7686 mobile; both with National Clergy Council DAYTON, Ohio, Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- President of the conservative and pro-life National Clergy Council, Rev. Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), will be a VIP guest at John McCain's campaign announcement today in Dayton Ohio when he will name his Vice Presidential running mate. Mr. Schenck, who just returned from the Democratic National Convention, was told this morning by confidential sources that Senator McCain has...

LifeNews.com Note: Carl Anderson is the Supreme Knight of the 1.75 million-member Knights of Columbus, the largest lay Catholic organization in the world. On a national and local level the Knights of Columbus is one of the most active groups supporting the pro-life cause. In November, as we look back on the results of the 2008 presidential contest, I suspect that we'll conclude that Aug. 16 was the day that Barack Obama lost the race. At the Saddleback Civic Forum on the Presidency, evangelicals had their chance to meet Mr. Obama and to compare his brand of Christianity to...

Don't want to take Rush's word for it? How about Mark Halperin's? The editor of Time's "The Page" is of the view that the choice by John McCain of a pro-choice running mate would be nothing short of a "disaster." Halperin expressed his view during an appearance today on CNN's American Morning. KIRAN CHETRY: What about some potential running mates for John McCain? Because there's been a lot of talk all over talk radio. A lot of people are saying if he tries to go with somebody who's pro-choice like a Lieberman, that that would be it for the base:...

As speculation grows around who John McCain will select as his vice presidential running mate next week, Republican National Committee officials said Tuesday that McCain is no longer considering former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. Several sources at the RNC told FOX News that in the last 36 hours, senior McCain advisers and aides have told RNC officials that McCain “got the message” last week that choosing a running mate who supports abortion rights would not be helpful.

As speculation grows around who John McCain will select as his vice presidential running mate next week, Republican National Committee officials said Tuesday that McCain is no longer considering former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge. Several sources at the RNC told FOX News that in the last 36 hours, senior McCain advisers and aides have told RNC officials that McCain “got the message” last week that choosing a running mate who supports abortion rights would not be helpful. GOP pundits had been vocal in urging the presumptive presidential nominee not to pick a running mate who supports abortion rights. Ridge, the...

The founder of Operation Rescue, Randall Terry is in Denver today to distribute his organization’s new flyer, “Is it Immoral to Vote for Obama for President?” His mission for the visit is simple: “hand out 100,000 copies of the brochure, ‘Is it Immoral to Vote for Obama for President?’ to Catholics and Evangelicals. It has a profoundly jolting effect on readers, explained Mr. Terry. Mr. Terry and his staff are recruiting volunteers to help with the distribution from Tuesday 8/19 – to Sunday 8/24. They will go to malls, shopping centers, streets, and churches to hand out the brochure. “It...

RICHMOND, Va. -- A group purporting to tell the "real truth" about Barack Obama's views on abortion wants a judge to rule it is not subject to federal election restrictions on fundraising and advertising. The Real Truth About Obama Inc., a group formed by anti-abortion activists, is trying to establish a Web site and air radio ads. But the group's attorney says his clients fear they will be prosecuted for breaking federal rules that restrict fundraising and advertising by political action committees, or PACs. The Richmond-based group argues it is not a PAC because it would be talking about an...

This is an AP article. I did a search and didn't see it posted anywhere and I'm not sure if AP articles were still prohibited here. Anyway, Ridge believes Republicans will accept a pro-abortion VP.

At the annual convention of the Knights of Columbus, held last weekend in Quebec, Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson declared it high time "that Catholics shine a bright line of separation between themselves and all those politicians who defend the abortion regime of Roe v. Wade." Anderson cleared the way for a resolution, adopted last Thursday, urging action on policies that would protect human life. If the Knights follow through on Anderson's exhortation, their influence might matter. Catholics, as a group, usually vote for the winner in the presidential elections. Catholics voted for Nixon in 1972, Reagan twice, George H.W....

There’s a newly uncovered paper trail demonstrating Barack Obama’s abortion militancy you can believe in (hat tip - Jill Stanek): Newly obtained documents prove that in 2003, Barack Obama, as chairman of an IL state Senate committee, voted down a bill to protect live-born survivors of abortion - even after the panel had amended the bill to contain verbatim language, copied from a federal bill passed by Congress without objection in 2002, explicitly foreclosing any impact on abortion. Obama’s legislative actions in 2003 - denying effective protection even to babies born alive during abortions - were contrary to the position...

"The first thing I would do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act!" - Sen. Barack Obama states to a group of Planned Parenthood supportersAmazingly, the American public does not know Senator Barack Obama's extreme position on abortion. Obama is a radical abortion-on-demand guy and his voting record is simply brutal. Barack Obama had the chance to support legislation to ensure that babies who survive abortion are afforded the same legal protections as those who are spontaneously born prematurely. In fact, he had three chances, but he refused to vote in favor of protecting these vulnerable lives...

LifeNews.com Note: Deal W. Hudson is the director of the Morley Institute for Church & Culture and InsideCatholic.com, and is the former publisher and editor of CRISIS Magazine, a Catholic monthly. He is the author of six books and his articles and comments have been published in many newspapers and magazines.Objections continue to be raised to the charge that Senator Barack Obama supports infanticide, most recently in a Huffington Post column by Seth Colter Walls. I have made this claim myself, as have Sen. Rick Santorum, Terry Jeffreys, Jill Stanek, Bill Donohue, Gary Bauer, and Nat Hentoff. It's a...

Yesterday, August 7, 2008, John McCain made a very strong pro-life statement at a Town Hall Meeting in Lima, Ohio. He advocated for the rights of the unborn, and said he not only has been pro-life but will continue to adovocate for the unborn as President of the United States. Here is video of his remarks . . .

Elections Have Consequences [Click here for a PDF version of this article.]Does it matter to the pro-life cause whether a President is pro-life or not? Does it matter how many pro-life people are elected to Congress?Part of the responsibility pro-life educational organizations like Priests for Life is to familiarize people with the electoral process and its implications.The present document, therefore, explores the progress made for the pro-life cause under a pro-life administration, and the possible impact of a pro-abortion one.PRO-LIFE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION1) Appointed Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The...

In May 2007, Benedict XVI flew to meet with the bishops of Mexico, Central America, and South America. While on the plane, the pope answered a question from a reporter about the Mexican bishops who were threatening to withhold the Eucharist from Catholic politicians who voted in favor of legalizing abortion. The Holy Father expressed his support for the Mexican bishops, saying: "It's nothing new, it's normal, it wasn't arbitrary. It is what is foreseen by the church's doctrine." The pope's spokesman later clarified his comment saying, "Legislative action in favor of abortion is incompatible with participation in the Eucharist."...

Sen. McCain holds private meeting with Archbishop Chaput" Scant little details: Senator John McCain is paying his second visit to Colorado in less than a week and on this trip he is taking time to meet privately with Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver. At 9:30 on Wednesday morning, John McCain and his wife Cindy met with Denver’s Archbishop Charles Chaput. The archbishop described the meeting as private and told CNA that no comment would be forthcoming. (CNA) Off the top of my head, Abp. Chaput has been an active supporter of immigrants' rights (where he would find common ground...

By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, DC, July 23, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews.com sat down with Brian Johnston, Western Director for the National Right to Life Committee for an interview yesterday, in which Johnston stressed that current Democratic Presidential candidate Barak Hussein Obama is even more radical on abortion than Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. “Right now at this moment in history the one thing that in the United States of America every citizen can impact is the destiny of our nation,� began Johnston. “And that is through the Presidential race. The next President is likely going to...

Thank you for inviting me to address the 2008 National Right to Life Convention, I'm sorry I'm not able to be there in person to address you. More than two-hundred years ago our nation's founders declared, that we are endowed by our Creator, with certain and unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It was no accident, that they cited life as the first, and most basic right. For without recognition of the right to life, we are not guaranteed any other rights. Sometimes all wisdom asks of us, is that we recognize...

<p>There seems to be a kumbaya moment occurring on the conservative front, and it’s one that would apply a salve to Senator John McCain’s uneven, unsettled relationship with the religious right.</p> <p>Enter James Dobson, who has at times been blistering in his criticisms of Mr. McCain. The religious right’s more favored candidates — from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to even former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson — are no longer options.</p>