Posted on 04/15/2007 10:09:11 AM PDT by wagglebee
There seems to be a lot of questions about the various candidates and their views on abortion, so I decided to look at some quotes by past and present candidates to see the differences in views.
Hillary Clinton
"I have said many times that I can support a ban on late-term abortions, including partial-birth abortions, so long as the health and life of the mother is protected. I’ve met women who faced this heart-wrenching decision toward the end of a pregnancy. Of course it’s a horrible procedure. No one would argue with that. But if your life is at stake, if your health is at stake, if the potential for having any more children is at stake, this must be a woman’s choice."
- Senate Debate, Oct 8, 2000
"We come to [the abortion] issue as men and women, young and old, some far beyond years when we have to worry about getting pregnant, others too young to remember what it was like in the days before Roe v. Wade. But I think it’s essential that as Americans we look for that common ground that we can all stand upon. [Our] core beliefs and values. can guide us in reaching our goal of keeping abortion safe, legal and rare into the next century."
- NARAL Speech, Jan 22, 1999
"I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is not being pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is trusting the individual to make the right decision for herself and her family, and not entrusting that decision to anyone wearing the authority of government in any regard."
- NARAL Speech, Jan 22, 1999
Bill Clinton
"Americans believe deeply in the need to keep government out of private, personal matters. That is one reason why I am pro-choice. I believe we should all work to reduce the number of abortions."
- Hope and History, by Bill Clinton, p.137 Jan 1, 1996
"I think there are too many abortions in America. I think there should be much more adoption in America."
- ABC Interview by Peggy Wehmeyer, March 22, 1994
"Abortion should not only be safe and legal, it should be rare."
- Speech to DNC, Aug. 29, 1996
Al Gore
In 1992 on the David Frost Show, Gore said he still regarded abortion as the taking of “innocent human life” but conceded that he no longer used such phrases in letters because they are “so loaded with political charge.” He added, “I think many of us have mixed feelings, because there are two questions involved. The first question is how you feel about an abortion in a given set of circumstances. And the second question is, who makes the decision? And regardless of how you and I might feel about the rightness or wrongness of a given decision in a particular set of circumstances, I believe the government ought not to have the right to order a woman to accept its judgment about how to weigh the different aspects of the decision, and order the woman to make the decision that government says she has to make, instead of leaving the decision to her. I’ve always believed that. (Inventing Al Gore, p.122 Mar 3, 2000)
"There is no more fundamental challenge than protecting a woman’s reproductive health. That means guaranteeing a woman’s right to choose -- and making abortion safe, legal, and rare. Some of us still remember the days when ending a pregnancy often meant risking one’s life. That is why we cannot bow to those who would chip away at these freedoms through legislation, intimidation, legal challenges, and illegal protests."
- Speech to National Women’s Law Center Nov 19, 1998
John Kerry
"I'm against the partial-birth abortion, but you've got to have an exception for the life of the mother and the health of the mother under the strictest test of bodily injury to the mother."
- Bush-Kerry Debate, in St. Louis MO Oct 8, 2004
Rudy Giuliani
“I’m pro-choice. I’m pro-gay rights,” Giuliani said. He was then asked whether he supports a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions. “No, I have not supported that, and I don’t see my position on that changing,” he responded.
- CNN.com, “Inside Politics” Dec 2, 1999
"Ultimately I believe it's an individual right and a woman should make that choice."
- Apr 4, 2007
"Where I stand on abortion is, I oppose it. I don't like it. I hate it. I think abortion is something that, as a personal matter, I would advise somebody against.
"However, I believe in a woman's right to choose."
- Hannity & Colmes, Feb 5, 2007
"But if the ultimate choice of the woman - my daughter or any other woman - would be that in this particular circumstance [if she had] to have an abortion, I'd support that. I'd give my daughter the money for it."
- Phil Donahue Show, 1989
It’s pretty amazing what some people consider a “cheap shot” or “smear campaign” — I think the Rudy Rooters expect conservatives to give him a pass on everything because he is “the only one who can win” (never mind the fact that they haven’t provided any proof of this).
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
Do you have any other quotes from other Presidential Candidates? I am still looking at what I thought I read Thompson said. DID he, or DID he NOT say that it was the woman's choice!? Do you know??!!
Next thing you know, they'll say you're "Swiftboating" them. Don't you know using the candidate's own words against them is a no-no?
I wonder can they point to a single president in US history who has KNOWINGLY appointed a single judge or justice who he knows has views that are totally contrary to his own on such an important issue?
bump
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