Catholic Lawyer Still Deceiving Voters to Think Obama is Pro-Life on Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 17, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Catholic attorney Douglas Kmiec is continuing his crusade to mislead voters into thinking Barack Obama is somehow pro-life on abortion. Kmiec has turned a few rare Obama comments against abortion into a pro-life philosophy for Obama despite the fact that Obama’s position is well outside the mainstream.
Obama believes all abortions should be legal throughout pregnancy for any reason — a position polls show fewer than 8 percent of Americans supporting.
In a Friday editorial appearing in the Los Angeles Times, Kmiec argues Obama is against abortion because he said during the debate that it is "always a tragic situation."
W. James Antle, the associated editor of the American Spectator, disagrees.
"Doug Kmiec is at it again, trying to make the pro-life case for Barack Obama. To make this argument, he has to stack the deck heavily in Obama’s favor," he says. "There are plenty of well meaning people who hold the position that abortion is regrettable but should be permissible, a necessary evil. But that position is not pro-life."
Kmiec also argues that McCain isn’t as strongly pro-life as pro-life groups make him out to be because he doesn’t think Roe v. Wade will eventually be overturned.
He calls it an "effort [that] has not saved a single child," even though most political observers say President Bush appointed two pro-life friendly judges who could easily represent the third and fourth votes to overturn the decision allowing unlimited abortions.
As such, a McCain nominee could easily become the fifth and deciding vote and allow states to once again provide legal protection for women and unborn children. When that happens, as many as one-fourth to one-half of states could limit all or most abortions within a few years.
Antle says Roe isn’t the only issue in play in the presidential election and says Kmiec ignores the promise Obama made in July 2007 to make the first piece of legislation he signed a bill that would make unlimited abortions a national law and overturn every abortion reduction law in all 50 states.
"Obama has said he would sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would invalidate state abortion restrictions that have reduced abortion rates," Antle says. "McCain would veto such legislation."
"Obama supports taxpayer funding of abortion while McCain favors the Hyde Amendment, which advocates on both sides of the issue believe has prevented many abortions," he added.
Kmiec argues Obama would try to reduce abortions through aid to pregnant mothers even though Obama would likely sign a pro-abortion bill that could put pregnancy help centers out of business or place severe restrictions on them.
"In short, there is no clear evidence that anything Obama is proposing would reduce abortions and some reason to believe his policies, if enacted, would increase them," Antle concludes. "Kmiec’s odd pro-life case for being pro-choice, as Ramesh Ponnuru puts it, doesn’t do the job."
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