Democratic Candidates Back Abortion at Planned Parenthood Forum
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 10, 2003
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Last week, most of the Democratic presidential candidates attended a New Hampshire forum put on by Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business.
The event came on the eve of President Bush signing the ban on partial-birth abortions and some of the candidates took the time to attack Bush’s actions.
"This president has exploited this issue," pro-abortion Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said during the forum. "There’s no such thing as a ‘partial birth.’ It is a late-term abortion. They’ve done a very effective job of giving people a sense of fear about it, and it’s part of their assault on the rights of women in America. There’s nothing partial, may I say, about their effort to undo Roe v. Wade."
Retired general Wesley Clark finally expanded on his pro-abortion position at the event.
"This is a matter between a woman and her doctor and her family," Clark said. "And we’ve got to stand up strong for the right of privacy in this country and for the rights of women. This is an issue that has been settled constitutionally. There’s a whole body of law on this."
Clark said that he opposed a military policy that banned abortions on U.S. military bases.
Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, Rev. Al Sharpton and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman were unable to attend.
However, that most of the candidates did point to the overwhelming influence pro-abortion groups exert on the Democratic Party and the need the candidate feels to kowtow to them.
Candidates were each asked to pick the woman in history they most admired. Answers ranged from Sen. Diane Feinstein (Clark) to Eleanor Roosevelt (John Edwards).
Howard Dean chose Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a founder of the women’s rights movement.
Dean, a former Planned Parenthood board member, likely doesn’t know that Stanton, who called abortion "infanticide" is pro-life, according to Feminists for Life.
"When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit," Stanton once wrote to a friend.
Meanwhile, pro-abortion candidate Carol Moseley Braun, a former Illinois senator, urged support for the Equal Rights Amendment.
"We have a responsibility to pass the Equal Rights Amendment," said Moseley Braun, who has the backing of NOW.
Pro-life groups support equality for women but oppose the ERA because it has been used to mandate taxpayer funding of abortions.
