Bush Radio Ad Bashes John Kerry on Abortion, Protecting Women

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 13, 2004   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Bush Radio Ad Bashes John Kerry on Abortion, Protecting Women

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 13, 2004

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — President Bush’s re-election campaign is continuing to pound Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for voting against legislation that would offer further protection for pregnant women like Laci Peterson who are victims of violence assaults. A new radio commercial also criticizes Kerry’s votes against parental notification on abortion.

The new radio spot says Kerry has missed two-thirds of the votes that have taken place this year in the Senate while he has been out campaigning. But, when Kerry has voted, "it makes you wish he never showed up to vote."

"Kerry voted against parental notification for teenage abortions, taking control away from parents, taking away their right to know," the radio ad says.

That refers to four separate votes in which Kerry opposed allowing parents to be notified when their teenage daughters are considering an abortion.

In 1990, Kerry voted to kill an amendment that would have required any health care agency receiving taxpayer funds to tell parents, 48 hours before an abortion is performed, that their minor daughter is considering have one.

In 1991, Kerry voted three additional times against parental notification.

"This ad reflects Kerry’s out of the mainstream record, including votes against Laci’s Law to help deter violence against pregnant women, against parental notification for teenage abortions and in favor of allowing schools to hand out the morning after pill without parents’ knowledge," Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

But David Wade, a Kerry campaign spokesman dismissed the ad and told the Washington Times that the Bush campaign is using "sloganized, wedge issues dreamed up by Republicans to divide Americans for the purpose of political gain."

Pro-life groups, and a strong majority of the general public, support parental notification laws. They say it helps parents help their daughters to find accurate information about abortion’s risks and alternatives and to determine if better solutions are present.

As with a similar television commercial currently running on cable outlets nationwide and in selected local media markets, the new radio spot bashes Kerry for voting against a bill referred to as Laci and Conner’s law.

The measure allows prosecutors to charge criminals who attack pregnant women with a second crime if they kill or injure their unborn baby. Scott Peterson is currently on trial for the double murder of Laci and Conner Peterson and prosecutors there are using a state version of the national law to charge Scott.

President Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act into law earlier this year. Laci’s parents, who have criticized Kerry for voting against the bill, attended the White House ceremony.

Related web sites:
New Bush radio ad – https://www.georgewbush.com/KerryMediaCenter/Read.aspx?ID=2934