Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Obama: Abortion Absolutist

Pat Buchanan is dead-on in his editorial, "The Catholic Case Against Obama." Every point he makes should be endorsed by Evangelical Protestants as well. Consider Buchanan's chilling statement:

"In 2007, Barack pledged that, in his first act as president, he will sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would cancel every federal, state or local regulation or restriction on abortion. The National Organization for Women says it would abolish all restrictions on government funding of abortion."

My God, consider the implications of this! All the incremental restrictions on abortion, won state-by state, over the years since 1973, wiped out with a signature. This is an act of congress brought forth after the ban on partial birth abortion was signed into law. Make no mistake, Obama supports partial birth abortion.

Please read this telling editorial. If you are in any sense pro-life (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or other), how can you vote for this "abortion absolutist"?

17 comments:

pgepps said...

I wholly agree that we should be strongly opposed to any such act. Of course, this unconscionable bargain was a cheap one, too, as there is no chance such a bizarre overreaching of federal authority would withstand scrutiny.

Is there? Well, we never thought they'd let McCain-Feingold pass, either.

Best to be safe....McCain has probably done his worst already, and Obama has not yet begun to fight. It's an easy choice.

Craig Fletcher said...

This is the single most important decision making point for my vote this year. Obama won't get my vote for many reasons, this one being at the very top of the list!!

I just don't understand why people think abortion is OK. These are human beings! Imagine that little person in there, peacefully developing, and then all of a sudden this machine comes in there and just obliterates it. It's a horrible thought. Babies are priceless, one of life's greatest joys.

Tom Hinkle said...

Would not the so-called Freedom of Choice Act have to pass Congress first? If it doesn't do that, how can signing it be the first thing Obama does as president? Pat Buchanan put out a statement there that he is not able to back up.

pgepps said...

tom, I wish you'd stop acting like a pouty kid spitting everything back out just 'cuz you don't like it.

http://www.naral.org/issues/abortion/access-to-abortion/freedom-of-choice-act.html

http://www.nrlc.org/foca/index.html



The act would have to pass, and I don't think that would happen (see my comment above). But (1) it is unconscionable to support such a thing, even "just in case" it passes; and (2) commitments to sign or not to sign a bill definitely do affect the machinations of legislative politics. And how is it Pat Buchanan's problem?

The page on Obama's site containing his 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade speech would not load, at first, for me. Here's a link to the google cache, just in case you have trouble. The current page did load a second time (bad site design).

pgepps said...

sorry, forgot comments here don't autolink.

NARAL page on FoCA
National Right to Life page on same

and just for good measure, Library of Congress entry for the bill introduced

David Strunk said...

I've heard Obama on a radio interview about his position on partial-birth abortion (to a Christian audience). He said that he was absolutely opposed to it in principle but had voted against similar measures banning partial-birth in Illinois based on other legal factors in the various state bills.

Obama is eiter 1) Lying outright to a Christian audience, or 2) Lying about his positions in the article cited by Dr. G. I suppose a third option (or more) is available in that Obama just doesn't know what he believes, but he's articuated two opposing viewpoints on record. I hope he's lying about #2 in an effort to win liberal voters. But one thing is for sure: he is using whatever politically expedient rhetoric he can to get elected.

I may be unlike some of those who comment on this site with respect that I'm not exactly sure what Obama believes and am hesitant to outline it. But this may be just as troubling as allowing partial-birth abortion in the first place.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Mr. Hinkle:

You are banned. I post things I take to be true, not just things that go against people I don't like. Buchanan may have overstated things, but Obama supports The Freedom of Choice Act.

a said...
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Jake said...
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Tom Hinkle said...

I don't think I posted anything worthy of banning. I did not personally insult you. I'm just questioning Pat Buchanan.

Jeremy said...

My son was induced a week before his due date. Had partial-birth abortion not been banned, my wife's sinister doppelganger could have been in the room next door having her baby (at 39 weeks gestation) aborted. My son was born an almost-eight-pound healthy baby boy, and let's assume that the boy next door *would have been*. The only difference is the mothers' mental states. Is it not mind-boggling how someone's mental state (I desire to abort this baby) can determine personhood (therefore, the baby is not a person)?

Who in their right mind could give any rational justification for partial-birth abortion (let alone infanticide post-partum)? The answer is "no one." The issue seems like it should be a litmus test for a candidates critical reasoning skills. If a candidate can't correctly identify infanticidal behavior, then should we trust them with the country?

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Tom Hinkle:

OK, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You were referring to Buchanan, not me.

Kevin Winters said...

David,

"But one thing is for sure: he is using whatever politically expedient rhetoric he can to get elected."

Who *isn't* doing that in this race? The above is a critique of politics in general, not Obama in particular.

Kevin Winters said...

While I understand the import of the issue of morality and public policy, can we see some posts on Obama vs. McCain in, say, education or economics? I'm particularly interested in the former as I just deplore the current state of education in the US.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Jeremy:

You swing!

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

Tom:

The part of Buchanan's piece about Obama's "first act as president" being to sign the Freedom of Choice Act was stated by Obama himself. I just read this in Freddoso's book, "The Case Against Barack Obama" in the chapter on abortion. He said it before a group of Planned Parenthood, a leading "abortion provider."

DOF said...

YOU CANNOT BE CATHOLIC AND VOTE FOR OBAMA!