Pro-Life Advocate: McCain, Obama Clearly Split on Supreme Court, Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 6, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — When voters head to the polls next month to make a decision about the next president, a leading pro-life advocate says they will see two candidates with clear abortion differences. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins says they will see two different Supreme Court philosophies, too.
As LifeNews.com has noted, John McCain and Barack Obama take two contrasting approaches on both abortion and the direction of the nation’s high court when it comes to deciding whether legal abortions should continue for any reason.
Perkins noted that difference on Monday in a statement sent to LifeNews.com, saying, "a new season of uncertainty is looming over the nation’s highest court."
"Next year at this time, two-thirds of the Court will be at least 70 years old, and [pro-abortion] Justice John Paul Stevens will be one birthday shy of his 90th. To say the next president holds the keys to the make-up of this court-and lower ones-is an understatement," Perkins says.
Additionally, Perkins notes the next president will inherit at least 44 vacancies in the federal judiciary — people who will make would could be the final decisions on the fate of pro-life legislation or rise to Supreme Court or appeals court positions.
To contrast the presidential candidates, Perkins noted the comments Obama running mate, pro-abortion Sen. Joe Biden, made during the Vice Presidential debates last week.
"[T]he ideology of [a] judge makes a big difference. That’s why I led the fight against Judge Bork," Biden said. "Had he been on the court, I suspect there would be a lot of changes that I don’t like… including everything from Roe v. Wade…"
On the other hand, Perkins said McCain expressed the kind of judicial philosophy for his judges that makes it more likely they will be willing to reverse Roe, which allowed virtually unlimited abortions for any reason throughout pregnancy.
"I will look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint," McCain has said. "I will look for people… [who] understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power."
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