Obama Names Abortion Backer Gary Locke Ambassador to China

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 8, 2011   |   1:47AM   |   Washington, DC

President Barack Obama added another pro-abortion entry to his record as president on Monday when administration officials confirmed he will nominate pro-abortion Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as ambassador to China.

Locke will succeed Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who is expected to announce he will run for the Republican nomination for president. Huntsman is expected to step down from his position on April 30 and Locke would have to be confirmed by the Senate to replace him.

Locke, himself, is a former two-term governor of the state of Washington, where he supported abortion, opposed legislation to ban partial-birth abortions and opposed legislation to allow parents to know when their daughters were considering one.

The appointment of an abortion advocate to the nation with the highest abortion figures in the world and a one-child policy that prohibits couples from having a second baby, comes at a time when the Obama administration is facing criticism for not taking the Asian nation to task over its poor human rights record.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came under fire last week because she couldn’t say whether Obama brought up, during his visit with China President Hu Jintao weeks ago, the massive human rights abuse millions of Chinese women endure if they break the country’s one-child family planning rules. Women have endured forced abortions and sterilizations, they have been sentenced to labor camps, beaten, given home detention and have faced a revocation of jobs or governmental benefits and massive fines for violating the law.

Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, a pro-life Republican from California, asked Clinton the question:

“Let me ask you — I’d like to be specific, and you didn’t get a chance to answer this, did President Obama confront President Hu during his visit to Washington on the issue of forced abortion? I think that could be answered with probably a yes or a no,” he said.

“We consistently raise that with the Chinese and I want to just say,” Clinton responded.

Rohrbacher cut her off and asked, “”So, is that a yes, that President Hu was actually confronted by President Obama on the issue of forced abortion.”

“I — I cannot answer that,” Clinton said. “I cannot answer that yes or no on that particular visit. I can tell you that we consistently raise it in our highest diplomatic encounters with the Chinese.”

Although Clinton’s response made it appear the Obama administration, at some point in time by high-ranking diplomatic officials, has pressed the Chinese government on the problems of forcing women in China to have abortions, Clinton backtracked when pressed further.

“Does that include — does that include — you say the highest — has President Hu been confronted with the issue of forced abortion by our president?” Rohrbacher continued.

“I will have to get an answer for you,” Clinton admitted.