John Kerry Still Extreme on Abortion, Despite Democratic Convention Speech
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 29, 2004
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — John Kerry may touch on the issue of abortion during his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention this evening, but he is not expected to seriously hammer President Bush on the issue. However, pro-life advocates say Kerry is still extreme on abortion.
"We’ve said from the first hour of the convention that this will be an extreme makeover of John Kerry’s 20-year record in the U.S. Senate," Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt told USA Today.
That record is filled with strong support for abortion and using taxpayer dollars to pay for it., pro-life groups say.
Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1984, Kerry has a 2% pro-life voting record on pro-life issues, according to the National Right to Life Committee. Kerry has earned a 100% pro-abortion voting record with Planned Parenthood and NARAL.
In the 1990s, Kerry co-sponsored the "Freedom of Choice Act," a bill that would have put the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion into federal law and overturned numerous state laws limiting abortion.
Kerry has consistently voted against the Hyde Amendment and other measures that limit taxpayer funding of abortion and voted against Laci and Conner’s Law — legislation that would protect pregnant women and their babies from violent crime.
"John Kerry isn’t just willing to support pro-abortion programs or legislation," Carol Tobias, Political Director of the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews.com. "If elected president, he would use Supreme Court appointments to make sure that abortion is here for many, many years to come."
In fact, Kerry has also said he will appoint only pro-abortion judges and will use tax money to pay for embryonic stem cell research.
Kerry has also said one of his first acts as president would be to send taxpayer funds to groups that promote or perform abortions in other countries and to the UNFPA, which backs China’s population control program of forced abortions and sterilizations.
During the Democratic primaries, Kerry even went so far as to misquote himself in trying to court abortion advocates.
On several occasions, Senator Kerry stated that his first speech as senator was in support of Roe. V. Wade. Yet, according to the Congressional Record, his first speech, made on March 19, 1985, "was made in opposition to President Reagan’s push to build 21 MX missiles."
When the inaccuracy of the senator’s statement was brought to his attention, he said he would no longer made the claim.
Despite the lack of details in Kerry’s convention speech, abortion advocates have their eye on the prize.
"The only thing the pro-choice movement cares about is who lives in the White House next January," said David Seldin, spokesman for NARAL, tells the Associated Press.
