Barack Obama’s Own Words Contradict Claims on Opposing Anti-Infanticide Bill
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 21, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Barack Obama and his campaign have repeated the same excuse as to why he opposed a bill in the Illinois legislature that would have stopped infanticide. Obama is on record opposing a measure to give medical care to prematurely born babies who survive botched abortions.
One columnist says Obama’s own words during the debate on the bill contradict his current claims that he opposed it because it could have contradicted Roe v. Wade.
Obama originally opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act in 2001 with concerns that it would impact the Roe decision and Illinois state law concerning when abortions were legal.
But, by the time the bill came up for debate again in 2002, those concerns had been rectified yet Obama continued to oppose the common sense bill.
"In 2002, Senator Obama was not concerned about Roe v. Wade. He was not concerned with undermining abortion laws in Illinois," writes Red State columnist Erick Erickson. "No, what Senator Obama today claims were his concerns were not his concerns back in 2002."
"In 2002, Senator Obama stood on the floor of the Illinois State Senate to oppose the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. By this time, even the abortion rights organizations like Planned Parenthood had dropped their opposition," he explained.
"But Obama continued to oppose the law," Erickson writes in a Thursday column. "He was the only person to speak out against the legislation."
Here is what Obama said, in an exchange with Senator O’Malley, the sponsor of the bill:
"As I understand it, this puts the burden on the attending physician who has determined, since they were performing this procedure, that, in fact, this is a nonviable fetus; that if that fetus, or child – however way you want to describe it – is now outside the mother’s womb and the doctor continues to think that it’s nonviable but there’s, let’s say, movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limp and dead, that, in fact, they would then have to call a second physician to monitor and check off and make sure that this is not a live child that could be saved."
Erickson summarizes the Obama complaint by saying: "Let’s trust the guy who just botched the abortion to determine whether or not he actually did botch the abortion."
"That’s it. If a baby comes out and is alive, Barack Obama thought it too burdensome to have another doctor, someone used to dealing with live babies, check to see if the baby was viable," Erickson explained.
"No one else spoke out against the legislation. Only Barack Obama was so concerned about the doctor performing the abortion, he did not think it worth having a doctor used to live babies coming in to see if the baby might live," he added. "Only Barack Obama."
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