New Video Surfaces: Obama Says Unborn Baby is “Potential Life”

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 3, 2012   |   12:13PM   |   Washington, DC

A new video has surfaced of President Barack Obama, saying at a campaign event in 2004, that he thinks an unborn baby is merely “potential life.”

The video, posted today by CBN News Chief Political Correspondent David Brody, features footage of Obama talking at a 2004 campaign event in Springfield, Illinois saying that a baby before birth “is a potential life.”

“My basic view is that abortion is an extraordinarily difficult moral issue. As a Christian, I think that a fetus is not just a collection of cells,” Obama says. “It is a potential life.”

“And I think that after viability it is legitimate for the state to prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is an exception for the mother’s life and health. Prior to viability, the problem is that this potential life is inside someone else’s body,” Obama continues. “It’s inside a woman’s body. And I don’t feel that it is appropriate for me to simply dictate to that person, to that woman what she should do with her body.

Brody says he thinks the video could have adverse election implications for Obama, as he attempts to draw in moderate and independent voters who are pro-life.

First of all, calling a fetus a “potential life” rather than an “actual life” could pose some problems for him with those socially conservative Reagan Democrat type voters who may now be reminded of Obama’s radical views on abortion, which simply do not comport with that crowd. It’s the type of remark that not only could turn these important swing voters away from Obama but toward Romney.

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Remember, these Reagan Democrats might agree with Obama to a certain extent on his solutions for the economy so the Romney campaign may need to look to the cultural issues to motivate them in a different direction. That’s why remarks like this can be detrimental to Obama.

Second of all, in the video Obama says how “a fetus is not just a collection of cells.” Well, if that’s the case, then it raises the question of why Barack Obama would come out AGAINST the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that upheld partial birth abortion. If you think there is some “potential life” growing inside a woman, then wouldn’t you be against partial birth abortion?

In August, Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack uncovered new audio of Obama, as a state legislator in Illinois in 2003, defending his position against a bill to provide medical support for babies who survived botched abortions. Obama essentially argues that there is no need for the law because he trusts abortion practitioners to provide medical care for the baby they unsuccessfully tried to kill in an abortion.

McCormack also uncovered an old video from 2003, when President Barack Obama was running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, in which he defends his position favoring late-term abortions.