Watchdog Group Says Barack Obama Misleading About Abortion, Infanticide Bill
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 26, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — An independent watchdog that checks the facts on statements and political ads from candidates and campaigns says Barack Obama is misleading people abortion. The FactCheck web site of the University of Pennsylvania reviewed the debate over the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
At issue is the bill that Obama opposed that would provide medical care for newborn infants who survive abortions.
Obama says he voted against the bill because it didn’t mirror a national version that had language making it neutral on Roe v. Wade — even though Obama voted for language in committee to make the state legislation conform.
The National Right to Life Committee released documents exposing Obama’s misrepresentation and the pro-abortion presidential candidate later accused the group of "lying" in a terse interview.
"We find that, as the NRLC said in a recent statement, Obama voted in committee against the 2003 state bill that was nearly identical to the federal act he says he would have supported," FactCheck indicated after reviewing the documents.
"Both contained identical clauses saying that nothing in the bills could be construed to affect legal rights of an unborn fetus, according to an undisputed summary written immediately after the committee’s 2003 mark-up session," it continued.
The watchdog organization noted that Obama voted against the bills in 2001 and 2002 because they didn’t contain the neutralization language, but said Obama is misrepresenting his 2003 vote.
"Obama’s claim is wrong. In fact, by the time the HHS Committee voted on the bill, it did contain language identical to the federal act," it said.
That bill, "never made it to the floor; it was voted down by the Health and Human Services Committee, which Obama chaired," FactCheck said.
FactCheck said the documents NRLC produced from the Illinois state legislature are undisputed in their validity.
It contacted Patty Schuh, spokesperson for the Illinois Senate Republicans, and Brock Willeford, who was the staff aide whose name appears on the documents, and both said they are genuine.
Cindy Davidsmeyer, spokesperson for the Illinois Senate Democrats, did not dispute the documents were legitimate.
The Obama campaign has since put out a new excuse for the votes, saying they would have gone up against state abortion laws that allow abortions.
"But whether or not one accepts those arguments, it is not the reason Obama had been giving for his 2003 opposition," FactCheck concluded.
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