Posted on 07/22/2004 5:16:55 PM PDT by madprof98
July 22, 2004 — Sen. John Kerry sat down for a wide-ranging interview with ABC News anchor Peter Jennings in Detroit today.
The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate discussed his views on abortion, sex and violence in the entertainment industry, and his upcoming acceptance speech at Democratic National Convention. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Peter Jennings: You told an Iowa newspaper recently that life begins at conception. What makes you think that?
Sen. Kerry: My personal belief about what happens in the fertilization process is a human being is first formed and created, and that's when life begins. Something begins to happen. There's a transformation. There's an evolution. Within weeks, you look and see the development of it, but that's not a person yet, and it's certainly not what somebody, in my judgment, ought to have the government of the United States intervening in.
Roe v. Wade has made it very clear what our standard is with respect to viability, what our standard is with respect to rights. I believe in the right to choose, not the government choosing, but an individual, and I defend that.
Jennings: Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say "life begins at conception"?
Kerry: Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard.
Jennings: If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?
Kerry: No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins.
Is it at the point where I would say that you apply those penalties? The answer is, no, and I believe in choice. I believe in the right to choose, and the government should not involve itself in that choice, beyond where it has in the context of Roe v. Wade.
Jennings: Can you imagine yourself ever campaigning against abortion?
Kerry: Well, I don't think — let me tell you very clearly that being pro-choice is not pro-abortion. And I have very strong feelings that we should talk about abortion in a very realistic way in this country. It is a very complicated, incredibly important moral issue that people have to face, also. And if you talk to any woman, as I have, who has faced that choice or who's been raped or who's suffered incest or who's faced that kind of choice, there are huge moral implications.
I think leadership needs to honor that, those moral implications, appropriately, and I think we need to adhere to the standard that Bill Clinton, in fact, so adeptly framed, that abortion should be rare, but legal and safe. And that's the standard that I apply. But I think we should talk more about alternatives to abortion.
Jennings: If I were really skeptical, Senator, I would say that when you use the phrase "life begins at conception," you're attempting to speak to those people for whom that is a slogan, making them totally opposed to abortion.
Kerry: Not in the least. It's a belief that is a belief of mine. It's consistent with everything I've always said over 35 years of public life. It is not a new statement, but it is consistent with my personal belief system about who chooses and what happens. I do believe we should talk about alternatives to abortion. I think we should talk about adoption. I think we should talk about, I think it is responsible to talk about abstinence, but I also believe you should talk about proper education of people — sex education.
You need to have proper knowledge about use of condoms to avoid AIDS. You need to be smart about these things. So what we need to do is have an honest dialogue and not succumb to the cynicism that sort of reduces these things to simplicity. It's not simple. It's a very complicated, highly emotional, very searing decision. I don't want the government making that decision for people, and that is a bedrock belief. But it doesn't change what I believe about how life goes on.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
And, Dan Rather of COURSE took F'in's word for granted.
No questions asked.
Of course, Rather is the same guy who has his head in the sand and claims that there "is no liberal media" (um....)
Thank God for Bernie Goldberg and his cajones.
But wait...
Kerry says he believes that life starts at conception
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com ^ | July 05, 2004 | Jonathan Finer
Posted on 07/05/2004 3:58:47 AM EDT by miltonim
DYERSVILLE, Iowa — As Sen. John Kerry campaigned across Iowa yesterday with Gov. Tom Vilsack, widely reported to be on Kerry's vice-presidential short list, both men dodged repeated questions about whether their joint appearance might be a preview of the Democratic ticket.
But even as he tried to avoid making news, Kerry broke ground in an interview that ran in the Dubuque, Iowa, daily, the Telegraph Herald. A Catholic who supports abortion rights and has taken heat recently from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper: "I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception.
"I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist," he continued. "We have separation of church and state in the United States of America."
The comments came on the final day of a three-state Midwest swing, during which Kerry has repeatedly sought to dispel stereotypes that could play negatively among voters in the Midwest.
President Bush's campaign said these instances are further evidence of what it says is Kerry's propensity for misleading flip-flops.
"John Kerry's ridiculous claim to hold conservative values and his willingness to change his beliefs to fit his audience betrays a startling lack of conviction on important issues like abortion that will make it difficult for voters to give him their trust," said Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman.
Is he now changing BACK to what he said before? Would this be the flip flop FLIP????
Kerry: Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard.
Jennings: If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?
Kerry: No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins.
THis would make a great campaign commercial......for Bush.
He's lying. He never did. Ever.
No, actually, based on my reading of this interview, I would say it's the Flip Flop Flop.
LOL......what the HELL does that mean?
I've seen Abbot and Costello routines that made more sense than that!
Something begins to happen?????????????
Translation: "I need a bunch of robed lawyers to tell me what I should believe.
What they say, goes. God doesn't matter."
And I will withhold what I'd like to say because I'd be banned.
Translation: "I need a bunch of robed lawyers to tell me what I should believe.
What they say, goes. God doesn't matter."
And I will withhold what I'd like to say because I'd be banned.
(PING)
What a worthless lying POS.
Jennings: Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say "life begins at conception"?
Kerry: Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test.
I'm really trying to follow what he's saying. It sounds like he's saying life begins at conception, but it doesn't deserve protection until it's VIABLE, which would mean that he would be opposed to partial-birth abortion. Wouldn't it?
And so are the 40+% that are voting for this POS.
Then, there is John Edwards. I can't listen to him for watching that thing on his lip move. I don't think I have ever gotten through and entire sentence without my mind trailing off to "what the hell is that thing". lol!
...not the government choosing, but an individual...
Funny how liberal democrats, who on most issues are more than willing to let the government determine the individual's behavior, suddenly transform into libertarians on the abortion issue.
Yeah, something begins to happen, you know, if you kill it quick it's OK because it's alive before it's dead if you get his drift.
Well, you see, I mean, first it's a cat in
the womb for the first trimester; then in the second it becomes a dog; finally it becomes a human.....but only after it is born.
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