Sarah Palin Told Pro-Life Group: Have Always Known Abortion an "Atrocity"
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 6, 2008
Anchorage, AK (LifeNews.com) — Alaska governor Sarah Palin burst on the national political scene just over one week ago when she became John McCain’s running mate and her pro-life views excited the majority of Americans who oppose abortions. The pro-life advocates who know her best, in Alaska, confirm she is a friend of life.
On Sunday, pro-life advocates in Alaska gave her high marks.
They noted how she has given the keynote address at the statewide pro-life dinner, strongly supported parental consent legislation, and has tried to change the state’s pro-abortion judiciary.
Ed Wassell, president of Alaska Right to Life, told the Anchorage Daily News that, despite Palin’s official pro-life words and deeds as governor, her decision to keep her disabled baby tops them all.
Palin has own national accolades by rejecting abortion despite news that her unborn son Trig had Down syndrome.
That decision "speaks more eloquently than any words or any official actions," Wassell says. "From that perspective, I think she’s unmatched."
Wassell also pointed the Anchorage newspaper to a letter his group received in 2002 when Palin did not receive its endorsement in her bid for Lieutenant Governor.
The pro-life organization has a policy of supporting candidates with long pro-life voting records and, as mayor of Wasilla, Palin hadn’t yet had a chance to put her pro-life views in action.
Palin was upset by the decision and defended her pro-life views in an email to the group, the Daily News indicated.
"For what it’s worth, I also wish to express my personal disappointment in not receiving your endorsement. It feels a bit like taking a kick in the gut. I am as pro-life as any candidate can be," Palin wrote.
She said she understood "the atrocity of abortion" since her childhood.
Karen Lewis, the executive director of Alaska Right to Life, told the newspaper that her group endorsed Palin in 2006 "as head and shoulders above everybody else."
As LifeNews.com has reported, Palin has strongly supported a parental consent law to allow parents the right to have a say in whether their daughters have an abortion. Lewis said that her views were again driven home when her 17-year-old daughter Bristol Palin became pregnant.
"Bristol could have gone off and had an abortion and Todd and Sarah wouldn’t have known anything about it," Lewis said. "My hat is off to her. I know it is tough."
During her speech at Alaska Right to Life’s "Proudly Pro-Life" dinner last fall, Palin talked about reshaping the judiciary, which has upset pro-life advocates with its decision to invalidate the parental consent statute the legislature approved.
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