Deal Hudson Finds Kerry's Views on Abortion and Life "A Little Hard To Believe"

On Sunday, John Kerry told Iowa's Telegraph Herald that he personally opposes abortion and believes that life begins at conception. The exact quote is as follows:

"I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception."

You may recall the e-letter I sent you in February that covered this very issue. In it, I had assembled several past Kerry comments that seemed to show that Senator Kerry does NOT really oppose abortion -- publicly or personally.

For example, compare his recent statement with the remarks he made at last year's NARAL Pro-Choice America Dinner:

"I think that tonight we have to make it clear that we are not going to turn back the clock. There is no overturning of Roe v. Wade... There is no outlawing of a procedure necessary to save a woman's life or health and there are no more cutbacks on population control efforts around the world. We need to take on this President and all of the forces of intolerance on this issue. We need to honestly and confidently and candidly take this issue out to the country and we need to speak up and be proud of what we stand for."

Did you catch that? Not only should abortion be available to all American women, all the time, but it should be used as a population control valve around the world. And this is something we should "be proud of." Not what you'd expect from someone who claims he doesn't like abortion.

From the Boston Herald on January 23, 2001: "I will not back away from my conviction that international family planning programs are in America's best interests. We should resist pressures in this country for heavy-handed Washington mandates that ignore basic choices that should belong to free people around the globe."

Kerry's support for "international family planning programs" -- a standard euphemism for "abortion" -- is an issue he's advocated for some time. If Kerry is telling the truth about being "personally opposed" to abortion, why is he trying to spread it worldwide?

But perhaps the most outrageous quote comes from the 1994 Congressional record: "The right thing to do is to treat abortions as exactly what they are -- a medical procedure that any doctor is free to provide and any pregnant woman free to obtain. Consequently, abortions should not have to be performed in tightly guarded clinics on the edge of town; they should be performed and obtained in the same locations as any other medical procedure... [A]bortions need to be moved out of the fringes of medicine and into the mainstream of medical practice. And by the same token, if our children are to be safe from the danger of fanaticism, tolerance needs to spread out of the mainstream churches, mosques, and synagogues, and into the religious fringes."

Abortion is simply "a medical procedure"? If that were true, then on what grounds could he possibly be personally opposed to it? He certainly doesn't seem to be struggling with the issue here. And how exactly does he propose to "spread tolerance" to the "religious fringes"? Presumably, he's referring to the people who, as an article of faith, believe abortion to be immoral. But didn't he just claim to be one of those very people?

John Kerry says he believes that abortion is wrong and that life begins at conception. And yet he vows to do everything he can to make sure that women have the freedom and right to end that life.

You can say a lot of things about a position like that. But you certainly can't say it's Catholic.
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On the occasion of the most recent anniversary of the Roe decision, Kerry’s own hyperbole at least matched that of the president:

“Never in my years in public service have the rights of women been at such risk – never have women been assaulted in their citizenship here at home or womanhood around the globe as they are by this administration,” Kerry announced ominously.

Drawing the Battle Lines

Kerry said recently that as president he would only appoint judges to the U.S. Supreme Court who support Roe v. Wade. While strictly enforcing the standard when interviewing candidates for the U.S. Supreme Court, he did back off to the extent of adding that the Roe v. Wade loyalty test would not necessarily be applied when making appointments to openings further down on the federal bench.

“I wouldn’t make it applicable to the whole federal court system,” he advised.

“I don’t want to get into an argument about litmus tests. The focus is on the constitutional right that Roe established in America. I want jurists to agree, who swear to uphold the Constitution. I want jurists who understand the Constitution that way.”

This Kerry absolutism on the volatile subject doesn’t end with promises to keep anti-Roe justices off the Supreme Court during any prospective Kerry tour in the White House. In fact, Kerry has promised in his present role as a senator to filibuster any “anti-choice” Supreme Court nominee:

“I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman’s right to choose or the constitutional right to privacy, on civil rights and individual liberties. ... The test is basic – any person who thinks it’s his or her job to push an extreme political agenda rather than to interpret the law should not be a Supreme Court justice.”

Track Record in the Senate

Historically in the Senate, Kerry has opposed attempts to criminalize late-term procedures. For example, he vigorously supported President Clinton’s veto of the Republican measure to ban late-term procedures.

Perennially, Kerry backs the now ubiquitous so-called “Murray Amendment,” which would finally end the overseas prohibition against abortions at U.S. military hospitals and facilities.

Currently, service members and their dependents – even if they are privately funded – are prohibited from getting otherwise legal abortions at such facilities.

Additionally, Kerry has voted to allow federal funding of abortions and to provide abortion counseling in federally funded clinics.

Kerry has consistently voted against banning partial-birth abortions, the controversial procedures where the doctor completes the abortion after the birthing process begins.

When despite his best efforts, the ban on partial-birth abortions was recently signed into law by President Bush, the senator explained: “I don’t support the president’s law because it doesn’t allow the exception for situations where the health of the woman is at risk. I believe this is a dangerous effort to undermine a woman’s right to choose, which is a constitutional amendment I will always fight to protect.”

The no-quarter-on-abortion-rights Kerry even voted against requiring parental notification for minors’ abortions.

All this rigorous entrenchment on the issue has earned Kerry a 0 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee. Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights League consistently rates him at 100 percent.

A Practicing Catholic

Curiously, Kerry is a practicing Roman Catholic, and it takes no Canon Law scholar to know where Mother Church stands on the abortion issue.

There has been the inevitable backlash.

Prior to the Missouri primary, for instance, the archbishop of St. Louis, Raymond L. Burke, said that if Kerry stood in line for Communion, he would give a blessing but not serve the sacrament, which is the hallmark of the Catholic faith.

Meanwhile, other church leaders have gotten in on the act. The archbishop of Kerry’s own Boston diocese, Sean O’Malley, has urged Catholic elected officials to voluntarily eschew the sacrament, the theory being that a pro-abortion Catholic would not qualify as being in a sufficient state of Sanctifying Grace to be worthy of the sacrament.

Certainly not oblivious to how he rankles the Church hierarchy, Kerry defended his position recently with this conundrum: “What I believe personally as a Catholic as an article of faith is an article of faith.”

Kerry goes on to explain that in his view it is not “appropriate in the United States for a legislator to legislate personal religious beliefs for the rest of the country.”

The apparent Kerry mantra on the trying subject shakes out that he is personally pro-life, but publicly for choice – a sort of thinking that leaves factions on both sides strangely unsatisfied
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/21/190642.shtml

John Edwards on Abortion

Right to abortion is constitutionally protected
I support a woman's right to choose and believe this that right is constitutionally protected. I also support funding for family planning.
Source: Vote-Smart Presidential National Political Awareness Test Jan 8, 2004

Voted NO on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions.
Vote on a motion to table [kill] an amendment that would repeal the ban on privately funded abortions at overseas military facilities.
Bill S 2549 ; vote number 2000-134 on Jun 20, 2000

Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions.
This legislation, if enacted, would ban the abortion procedure in which the physician partially delivers the fetus before completing the abortion. [A NO vote supports abortion rights].
Status: Bill Passed Y)63; N)34; NV)3
Reference: Partial Birth Abortion Ban; Bill S. 1692 ; vote number 1999-340 on Oct 21, 1999

Voted NO on disallowing overseas military abortions.
The Murray amdt would have repealed current laws prohibiting overseas U.S. military hospitals and medical facilities from performing privately funded abortions for U.S. service members and their dependents.
Status: Motion to Table Agreed to Y)51; N)49
Reference: Motion to table Murray Amdt #397; Bill S. 1059 ; vote number 1999-148 on May 26, 1999

John Kerry on Abortion

Partial-birth abortion ban undermine women's right to choose
Q: Do you support the ban on partial-birth abortions recently signed into law?
A: I don't support the President's law because it doesn't allow the exception for situations where the health of the woman is at risk. I believe this is a dangerous effort to undermine a woman's right to choose, which is a constitutional amendment I will always fight to protect.

Source: Concord Monitor / WashingtonPost.com on-line Q&A Nov 7, 2003

No criminalization of a woman's right to choose
The Republicans want to criminalize the right of women to choose, take us back to the days of back alleys, gag doctors and deny families the right to plan and be aware of their choices - we Democrats want to protect the constitutional right of privacy and make clear that at the center of this struggle is our commitment to have a Supreme Court that will protect the equal rights, the civil rights, and the right to choose in this nation.
Source: Keynote Speech to Massachusetts Democratic Issues Convention Jun 7, 2003

Voted NO on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions.
Vote on a motion to table [kill] an amendment that would repeal the ban on privately funded abortions at overseas military facilities.
Bill S 2549 ; vote number 2000-134 on Jun 20, 2000

Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions.
This legislation, if enacted, would ban the abortion procedure in which the physician partially delivers the fetus before completing the abortion. [A NO vote supports abortion rights].
Status: Bill Passed Y)63; N)34; NV)3
Reference: Partial Birth Abortion Ban; Bill S. 1692 ; vote number 1999-340 on Oct 21, 1999

Voted NO on disallowing overseas military abortions.
The Murray amdt would have repealed current laws prohibiting overseas U.S. military hospitals and medical facilities from performing privately funded abortions for U.S. service members and their dependents.
Status: Motion to Table Agreed to Y)51; N)49
Reference: Motion to table Murray Amdt #397; Bill S. 1059 ; vote number 1999-148 on May 26, 1999

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