Initial Republican Party Platform Pro-Life on Abortion, Stem Cell Research

LifeNews.com ^ | August 25, 2004 | Steven Ertelt

[cpforlife.org]

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Despite attempts by activists to change the GOP platform to support abortion and embryonic stem cell research, the initial version of the document supports President Bush's pro-life positions on the subjects.

A draft of the platform, shown to delegates last night in advance of hearings today, retains the longtime stance in favor of a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would afford legal protection for unborn children throughout pregnancy.

The platform language also contains a plank supporting President Bush's August 2001 policy prohibiting taxpayer funding of any new embryonic stem cell research and supporting the use of adult stem cells as a more ethical and effective alternative.

Jim Bopp, a leading pro-life attorney who is a member of the platform committee, told LifeNews.com that the platform looks "real good" so far.

In calling for the pro-life constitutional amendment, the platform says "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."

Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer met with members of the platform committee and is pleased with what he sees.

"I strongly believe that only a bold and unapologetically conservative platform can help President Bush win reelection," Bauer said.

"There are millions of Americans who care deeply about the issues of hearth and home, for whom 'family values' are an everyday way of life and not just an election year slogan," Bauer said. "The polls have consistently shown that pro-family, pro-life issues are winning issues."

Republicans who wanted to change the platform to weaken the pro-life stance hoped to add a unity amendment noting that a minority of Republicans disagree with the part on the controversial issue.

However, language added to the platform's conclusion mirrors a plank in the Democratic Party platform adopted at their convention in Boston. It only says that Republicans disagree on some issues without naming any specifics.

Ann Stone, the chairman of Republicans for Choice, a group that favors abortion, told the Associated Press she is disappointed with the wording of the unity language.

"It was their chance to show George Bush as a uniter not a divider, but clearly they have failed," Stone said.

[cpforlife.org]

"America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts -- a child -- as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

Mother Teresa (Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94)

[cpforlife.org]

Pro-Life PING

Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[jla]

"I strongly believe that only a bold and unapologetically conservative platform can help President Bush win reelection," Bauer said.

It sure didn't hurt Ronald Reagan. ;^)

[LibertyGirl77]

NOT a Catholic, but Mother Theresa rocks.

[MHGinTN]

Ann Stone, the chairman of Republicans for Choice, a group that favors abortion, told the Associated Press she is disappointed with the wording of the unity language. ... "It was their chance to show George Bush as a uniter not a divider, but clearly they have failed," Stone said.

So, agreeing or compromising with 'choice' means embracing and condoning serial killing of unborn, alive children, and if you're not willing to endorse that 'enlightened' approach to women's greater rites, er, sorry ... rights, then you're not a uniter, you're a divider. Uh huh, unless you bow to 'choice' (Satan's ploy), you're just out of step with the world. And ya know, that's probably right since the majority of the world is already serving the father of lies without realizing it. 'And in the last days, their hearts shall be darkened ...'

[TOUGH STOUGH]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! What a powerful quote from Mother Theresa. I have never read it.

Thank you for posting it.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

It sure didn't!

[TOUGH STOUGH]

She sure does!

[jla]

...Mother Theresa rocks.

She was the original feminist.

She sure does!

The woman's a veritable Saint

[TOUGH STOUGH]

"The woman's a veritable Saint"

She most certainly is and a hero to boot!

[nickcarraway]

BUMP