[Esther Ruth]

From Family Research Council 5:30 pm tonight, email...

Refer a Friend | October 26, 2005
Miers' 1993 Speech Prompts More Questions

Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers spoke to the Executive Women of Dallas in 1993 and offered a troubling assessment of the abortion issue. In a story reported in today's Washington Post (FRC has obtained the text of the speech, which was included in the papers she delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee) Miss Miers said: "The ongoing debate continues surrounding the attempt to once again criminalize abortions or to once and for all guarantee the freedom of the individual [woman's right] to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion." She urged her listeners to remember that "we gave up...legislating religion or morality." She added: "When science cannot determine the facts and decisions vary based upon religious belief, then government should not act."

This is very disturbing. Miss Miers' words are a close paraphrase of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. Her use of terms like criminalize abortion to characterize the pro-life position and guarantee freedom to describe the pro-choice position should have sounded alarms in the White House during the vetting process. When we defend the right to life, we hearken back to the Declaration of Independence, not to some strictly sectarian view. Science has long ago answered the question of when human life begins. The constitutional and legal question is whether we are going to defend innocent human life from lethal assault. This speech raises very troubling questions about Miss Miers' views of constitutional matters.

Additional Resources
In Speeches From 1990s, Clues About Miers Views

[Ken H]

Ms Miers: "The ongoing debate continues surrounding the attempt to once again criminalize abortions or to once and for all guarantee the freedom of the individual [woman's right] to decide for herself whether she will have an abortion."

Family Research Council: Her use of terms like criminalize abortion to characterize the pro-life position and guarantee freedom to describe the pro-choice position should have sounded alarms in the White House during the vetting process.

The FRC nails it.

[JCEccles]

She urged her listeners to remember that "we gave up...legislating religion or morality."

Anyone who equates abortion clinic protesters with terrorists is making a violently moral judgment. It is the sick and twisted morality of liberal feminism, but it is an unequivocally moral judgment.

[FreeReign]

"When science cannot determine the facts and decisions vary based upon religious belief, then government should not act."

Science can determine the facts.