Michelle Obama Under Fire for 2004 Letter Defending Partial-Birth Abortions

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 21, 2008   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Michelle Obama Under Fire for 2004 Letter Defending Partial-Birth Abortions

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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 21
, 2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Michelle Obama, the attorney wife of pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, is coming under fire for a letter she wrote defending partial-birth abortions. The 2004 letter, written to help Obama in his campaign for his U.S. Senate seat, opposes the ban on the abortion procedure.

In February 2004, Michelle Obama penned a fundraising letter to help her husband Barack raise funds for his Illinois-based Senate seat.

The letter contends the federal ban on partial-birth abortions "is clearly unconstitutional" and "a flawed law."

Though the three-day-long partial-birth abortion procedure involves the partial birth of a baby during the middle trimester of pregnancy and the jamming of scissors into the back of her head to kill her, Obama’s wife describes it as "legitimate" medicine.

"The fact remains, with no provision to protect the heath of the mother, this ban on a legitimate medical procedure is clearly unconstitutional and must be overturned," Michelle Obama writes in the letter.

She also said the Bush administration should not encourage the abortion practitioners who sued to reverse the ban to drop their lawsuit to make it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court later sided with Bush and Congress in saying the ban is legitimate.

In closing, Obama told prospective donors that they could "count on" Barack to "keep the Bush team from appointing the Supreme Court justice that will vote against Roe v. Wade."

Noted pro-life advocate Jill Stanek highlighted the letter on her blog and said Michelle was "leeching off the partial birth abortion ban" to raise funds for her husband.

"I’d like to ask Michelle to explain her legal opinion about this law the Supremes went on to declare constitutional," Stanek said.

"I’d like to ask Michelle how in the world she could in good conscience raise money from fear-mongering about this barbaric abortion procedure," she added.

Stanek pointed out that Barack Obama recently issued a warning to "lay off my wife" after she came under fire about an unrelated issue.

Stanek said the request amounted to "Free speech for me but not for thee" — something she called "a typical left-wing position."

"So it’s fine to kill late-term babies, but we can’t risk hurting Michelle’s feelings about it," she added.