Howard Dean: The Most Pro-Abortion Presidential Candidate?

lifenews.com ^ | August 13, 2003 | Steven Ertelt

[cpforlife.org]

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of LifeNews.com profiles on the Democratic presidential candidates.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Democratic candidates for president are playing a game of one-upmanship in their attempt to gain support form abortion advocacy groups. But former Vermont Governor Howard Dead has a claim to fame none of the others can match: he's worked at Planned Parenthood.

The physician-turned-politician did a stint at Planned Parenthood while working to become an internist, Mary Hahn Beerworth, director of Vermont Right to Life, tells LifeNews.com. However, the rotation wasn't required by his medical student program.

"While he has said that he fully understands the procedures involved in an abortion, he also says he has never performed one - which leads to the question, why not," Beerworth asked.

What is known, however, is that he also served on the board of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England for five years before becoming governor.

As governor, Dean towed the party line on parental notification and opposed letting parents know about their minor daughters having an abortion so they could help them make a better choice.

However, in an embarrassing moment for Dean earlier this year, he was caught exaggerating one story in an attempt to talk down the need for notification. During his speech to the annual NARAL dinner this January, Dean related a story about his days as a doctor:

“As many of you know I'm a doctor. I'm an internist, and I take care of all ages…one time a young lady came into my office who was 12 years old and she thought she might be pregnant. And we did the tests and did the exam and she was pregnant. She didn't know what to do. And after I had talked to her for a while I came to the conclusion that the likely father of her child was her own father. You explain that to the American people who think that parental notification is a good idea.”

Dean's problem? The story is false.

In an appearance on MSNBC's "Meet the Press" on June 22nd, host Tim Russert confronted Dean with the falsehood.

Russert: There's this article in USA Today: “Dean told a powerful story but left out a key fact. What Dean didn't say was that he knew the father was not responsible, someone else was convicted.” That's a pretty big omission. Dean: I don't think it's -- omission. A pretty big omission, you mean? Russert: Yeah. That’s a pretty -- to say that... Dean: I don’t think it is at all. Russert: To suggest her father may have been... Dean: I thought it was. At the time, I thought it was. Russert: But when you told that story, you knew otherwise. Dean: That’s right. Russert: Why didn’t you say that? Dean: Because it didn’t make any difference.

Joanne Ciulla, a leadership and ethics professor at the University of Richmond, says Dean gave "the appearance of lying because he didn't reveal all the information."

Pro-life groups say Dean's focus in the situation should have been less on getting an abortion for the girl without her parents knowledge and more on reporting the potential incest to police so it could be investigated.

In fact, Dean not only apparently failed to report the incident to authorities, he admitted in a February 2001 interview, he didn't know the law required such a report.

Dean received his medical license in 1979 and, in 1982, a Vermont state law went into effect requiring mandatory reporting of child abuse.

In the interview on the "Mark Johnson Show" on WDEV in Burlington, Vermont, Dean was asked why he didn't report the incident to authorities.

"I don't know. I mean I don't know if I do or not…those laws were passed long after I left medical practice as far as I know…..I am not even sure if doctors are covered for those kinds of instances," Dean said. "Well, maybe I did, maybe I broke the law, I don't have any idea."

Yet, in a, Dean told Tim Russert in the same June 2003 interview, "Of course we reported the whole situation."

Meanwhile, Dean was such a strong advocate for abortion as Vermont's governor that he proposed making abortions cheap and readily available.

"As Governor, Dean's universal health care proposal included $5.00 abortions for everybody," Beerworth said.

During his tenure, the state of Vermont allowed partial-birth abortions to be performed and even allowed non-doctors to do abortions.

Vermont law was so permissive on abortion that it propelled the state to the top of the list for abortion rates. According to CDC statistics, Vermont had one of the highest abortion rates in the nation. In 1992, during the second year of Dean's term, it had 359 abortions for every 1000 live births.

The evidence seemingly makes it clear that Howard Dean is perhaps the most pro-abortion candidate running for president in 2004.

"Howard Dean is pro-abortion, has always been a pro-abortion activist and he takes the extreme position that there is not an unborn child, at any stage of pregnancy, that merits legal protection," Beerworth concluded.

Related links:

USA Today on Howard Dean's Story -- http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-03-13-dean-usat_x.htm

Transcript of Interview With Tim Russert - http://www.msnbc.com/news/912159.asp

Mark Johnson Show Interview - http://www.LifeNews.com/nat77b.html

[cpforlife.org]

THE UNBORN CANNOT SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. WE ARE THEIR VOICE. WE MUST SPEAK UP FOR THEM AT THE VOTING BOOTH. IF WE DO NOT VOTE, WE REMAIN SILENT; AND MILLIONS WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And after I had talked to her for a while I came to the conclusion that the likely father of her child was her own father. You explain that to the American people who think that parental notification is a good idea.”

And so, "Daddy" would have been tickled... and Dean complains?

[cpforlife.org]

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

[cpforlife.org]

Related links:

USA Today on Howard Dean's Story -- http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-03-13-dean-usat_x.htm

Transcript of Interview With Tim Russert - http://www.msnbc.com/news/912159.asp

Mark Johnson Show Interview - http://www.LifeNews.com/nat77b.html

[cpforlife.org]

I never thought they could find someone more evil than Klinton...

God Save The Republic

[Agnes Heep]

Dean: Because it didn’t make any difference. The truth never matters when it comes to the agenda.

[Young Rhino]

Dean will prove he is the biggest pro-abort candidate by performing an abortion at a NARAL fundraiser. At the next gay special interest speech, look for him to exercise those new-found constitutional rights to same-sex activities. Dean has no shame and will stoop to any level to appease his fellow whackos.

[swilhelm73]

So the point of Howard "Gilligan" Dean's story is that parental notification is bad when the father incestually rapes the daughter. In his story he claims that is what happened, falsely. And then he says it doesn't make a difference?!?!?

To be a Democrat candidate for president is to be without either honesty or integrity, but come on, could they get any more shameless?

Maybe he can starting telling a story about a poor working homeless family in America that didn't get Bush's tax cut and had to live out in the cold all winter long ...and then let on that it wasn't a family, they were't poor, and the two polar bears in question are actually residents of Canada.

[The Raven]

You can't be a Dem candidate without being pro-choice......so now it's who's MORE pro-choice????

[chiefqc]

The poor unborn, never allowed to be born, can not vote so they are of no importance in the election process so why should this pervert care.

His hands are covered with their innocent blood the same as those who perform their murder for money abortions.

[Kudsman]

bttt

[Bob Eimiller]

bump

[sgtbono2002]

And after I had talked to her for a while I came to the conclusion that the likely father of her child was her own father. You explain that to the American people who think that parental notification is a good idea.”

Let me explain it to you Howard. Notify this parent when the Sherriff is at his door to arrest the sorry piece of crap, but no you want to kill the baby and send the daughter back for more of the same you stupid murdering sonofa*****

[jocon307]

"now it's who's MORE pro-choice?"

Howard Dean goes way beyond pro-choice, he's actively pro-abortion. He's an enthusiast. $5.00 abortions for everybody, and a chicken in every pot!

[agrace]

Notify this parent when the Sherriff is at his door to arrest the sorry piece of crap, but no you want to kill the baby and send the daughter back for more of the same you stupid murdering sonofa*****

Exactly, like any REAL doctor who had an inkling that his adolescent abortion-seeking patient was impregnated by her own flesh and blood would say "Oh no, missy, I have to tell your daddy, it's the LAW." Give me a break.

[HiTech RedNeck]

So the point of Howard "Gilligan" Dean's story is that parental notification is bad when the father incestually rapes the daughter. In his story he claims that is what happened, falsely. And then he says it doesn't make a difference?!?!?

To be brutally fair, I wouldn't choose the hill of this particular point to die on. Satan is laughing at how well he's redirected the concerns of abortion foes, if this is what they are most wrought up about. Dean obviously believed it was a case of incest AT THE TIME. What was discovered later wouldn't have mattered to the ethical (or unethical) decision Dean faced AT THE TIME.

[reg45]

And so, "Daddy" would have been tickled...

Of course "daddy" would have been tickled - how often do you get to be both a father and a grandfather at the same time!

8-)

[HiTech RedNeck]

I mean tickled to learn that his daughter was "getting rid of the problem."

[reg45]

Hippocratic Oath -- Classical Version

I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfil according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.

I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfil this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

How can we trust anyone who claims to be a physician and violates the Hippocratic Oath!

[HiTech RedNeck]

They're supposed to swear by these gods???