Hillary Clinton Attempts to Moderate Abortion Message Before Elections

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 13, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Hillary Clinton Attempts to Moderate Abortion Message Before Elections Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 13, 2006

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Hillary Clinton is continuing her attempt to tone down her pro-abortion rhetoric in advance of the 2006 elections and the presidential contests in 2008. In what has become a new tactic by abortion advocates to deflect attention from their extreme views, Clinton touted family planning as a method of preventing and reducing abortions.

Polls continue to show that a majority of Americans are pro-life and Clinton’s view that abortions should be legal throughout pregnancy for any reason doesn’t carry over well in the ballot box and exit polls show pro-life views helped pro-life and Republican candidates.

To get Americans on their side in the abortion advocate, abortion advocates like Clinton are attempting to shift the debate to family planning and preventing so-called unwanted pregnancies.

Clinton told the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association in Washington that abortion "should not be in ideological battle."

"Let us unite around a common goal of reducing the amount of abortions," Clinton said. However, her method of reducing abortions is different from those of pro-life groups.

Clinton claims the number of abortions will drop "not by making them illegal as many are attempting to do or overturning Roe v. Wade and undermining the constitutional protections that decision provided, but by preventing unintended pregnancies in the first place through education, contraception, accessible health care and services, empowering women to make decisions."

In her speech, Clinton dove into the ideological debate by criticizing pro-life lawmakers who have fought efforts to increase taxpayer funding for family planning programs.

She also bashed President Bush for not doing more to promote the morning after pill, even though the Plan B drug can cause abortions on occasion.

In an interview with the New York Times, an unnamed Clinton advisor said the pro-abortion New York senator and potential 2008 presidential candidate believes it’s time to put pro-life advocates on the defensive. The advisor said pro-life advocates scored political points by criticizing lawmakers who opposed bans on partial-birth abortions.

This is the second speech that has seen Clinton seek a middle ground on abortion. She gave a January 2005 address that upset pro-abortion stalwarts by calling for unity and common ground.