John McCain’s Pro-Life Abortion Record Gets Buried With Focus on Obama

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 23, 2008   |   12:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

John McCain’s Pro-Life Abortion Record Gets Buried With Focus on Obama
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 23
, 2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — With the intense focus on the extreme pro-abortion positions of Barack Obama, there has been little reference during the weeks leading up to the presidential elections of John McCain’s pro-life record on abortion. McCain isn’t as outspoken as past presidential candidates, but his record speaks volumes.

The most clear-cut vote on abortion came in March 2003 when McCain voted against a Senate resolution endorsing the Roe v. Wade decision.

The Supreme Court ruling, which McCain has called a flawed decision and one that should be overturned, allowed virtually unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason.

Unlike Obama, who opposes the ban, McCain voted repeatedly for the partial-birth abortion ban over the years and, in 2003, opposed all pro-abortion amendments to weaken the bill that eventually became national law and was upheld by the Supreme Court.

McCain has also compiled a strong record over the years of opposing taxpayer funding of abortions in various situations.

As recently as April 2005, and several times before that, McCain opposed an attempt to send taxpayer money to groups that perform or promote abortions in other nations. This anti-funding rule, known as the Mexico City Policy, is expected to be one of the first to be removed under a potential Obama administration as he has voted to scrap it.

During his tenure in the House and Senate, McCain has also voted against taxpayer funding of abortion at military hospitals, in the District of Columbia, in the federal employee’s health insurance plan, on Indian reservations and has supported the Hyde Amendment to ban direct abortion funding in almost all cases.

Senator McCain has also established a strong position supporting parental involvement on abortions — by repeatedly voting for bills to respect consent and notification laws.

In July 2006 and again in September 2006, McCain voted for Congressional bills to make it a crime to take minor girls to another state for a secret abortion that violates the consent or notification laws of her home state. In both cases, Obama voted against the laws to uphold parental involvement and knowledge of when their daughter is considering an abortion.

In August, 2007 McCain voted for an amendment to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover pregnant women and their unborn children.

Under a Bush administration proposal, states have the option of extending that coverage to unborn children — which automatically qualifies pregnant women for coverage as well during their pregnancy.

Because this is an administrative rule and could be changed by a future president, like Obama, Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado offered an amendment earlier this year to put the rule in existing law and make helping pregnant women and children permanent.

The Allard Amendment would have written explicit language into the SCHIP statute to guarantee coverage for women and children and McCain supported it.

The vote on the SCHIP amendment came after another pro-woman vote for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

The measure, sparked by the deaths of Laci and Conner Peterson, allows prosecutors to hold criminals responsible for two crimes, instead of just one, when they kill or injure both mother and child in a violent attack. Without the law, assailants would not be held culpable for the death of or injury to the baby.

In 1999, Senator McCain voted for an amendment to require detailed reporting on transactions involving the body parts of babies killed by any method of abortion. Certain firms collect and sell such “fetal tissue” and organs to medical researchers.

Senator McCain has also developed a strong voting record in opposition to assisted suicide and rationing of health care for seniors, which could lead to euthanasia.

In April 1997, McCain voted for the Assisted Suicide Funding Restriction Act that made sure neither federal funds (such as Medicare or Medicaid) nor federal facilities (such as veterans’ and military hospitals) could be used to provide “assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing.”

Also in 1997, McCain voted to allow seniors to use their own money to escape health care rationing.

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