Posted by
InchDeep on Monday, July 07, 2008 2:27:06 AM
You can't deny it, Obama and the Democrats are for it.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
Infanticide
is becoming a touchy subject for Barack Obama. So much so that his
supporters either deny that their candidate ever voted against the Born
Alive Infant Protection Act, or they describe his votes as
"procedural," as if Obama never really opposed providing medical
treatment for infants who survived an abortion.
The facts show otherwise.
The Born Alive Infant
Protection Act was first introduced in the Illinois legislature in 2001
after nurse Jill Stanek revealed that babies born alive in Christ
Hospital in botched abortion procedures were left to die, unattended by
medical personnel.
That same year Stanek
testified before the Judiciary Committee, where Obama asked whether the
bill would subvert a woman's right to abortion. Obama voted against the
bill in committee but "present" on the Senate floor.
When the bill was
reintroduced in 2002, Obama again voted against it in committee and was
the only state senator to speak against it on the Senate floor. Again
the bill was defeated with Obama voting "no" and leading the opposition.
Here is what he said:
Whenever we
define a pre-viable fetus as a person that is protected by the Equal
Protection Clause or the other elements in the Constitution, what we're
really saying is, in fact, that they are persons that are entitled to
the kinds of protections that would be provided to a -- a child, a
9-month old -- child that was delivered to term. That determination
then, essentially, if it was accepted by a court, would forbid
abortions to take place. I mean, it -- it would essentially bar
abortions, because the Equal Protection Clause does not allow somebody
to kill a child, and if this is a child, then this would be an
anti-abortion statute.
2002 was the year the
U. S. Congress passed and President Bush signed the federal version of
the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. Unlike Obama in Illinois, Sen.
Hillary Clinton voted to support the bill. In fact, the bill passed the
Senate 98 to 0 with pro-abortion senators like Boxer (D-CA) and Reid
(D-NV) supporting it.
In 2003, the bill was
introduced in the Illinois legislature for the third time and directed
to a committee chaired by Obama, Health and Human Services. They
refused to bring the bill to a vote.
Only when Obama left
for Washington in 2005 did the Born Alive Infant Protection Act pass
the Illinois legislature. It's for good reason Barack Obama has been
called "the most pro-abortion presidential candidate ever."
The Roman Catholics
for Obama Web site has no mention of his opposition to the Born Alive
Infant's Protection Act. Look under its section "Life and Dignity of
the Human Person," and you will find statements on the death penalty,
the Iraq War, gun control, and the promise to nurture "a socio-economic
environment" that will provide "a safety net that will make abortion
increasingly unnecessary and rare."
Some of Obama's
infanticide apologists argue that since the declared intention of Obama
in voting against the BAIP Act was to uphold Roe v. Wade then it was
not evidence of "support for infanticide." Such poor logic completely
detaches Obama's act of voting against the bill from its consequences.
Without the passage of the bill, infants born in Illinois remained
vulnerable to the lack of treatment witnessed first-hand in Christ
Hospital by Jill Stanek.
It would be like a
senator arguing that his vote to approve Iraq War funding was just to
"support the troops" but not the war. How can you put a gun in a
soldier's hand without taking responsibility for what happens when he
shoots it?
Democratic pundits
don't want to talk about Obama on abortion or infanticide, either. On a
recent CNN broadcast, Wolf Blitzer asked Bill Bennett what he would ask
Obama, if given the chance.
Bennett said he would
ask Obama about his abortion extremism and why he "doesn't see a
problem with killing a baby after it's been born after eight months."
Donna Brazile, well-known Democratic consultant, reacted strongly: "You
want to have a conversation about narrow issues, but the American
people want to talk about gas prices."
Brazile can be sure
that $4.00 per gallon gasoline isn't going to divest the millions of
religious conservatives who care about the dignity of human life of
their repugnance for infanticide. The last thing the Democrats want to
hear are questions raised about Obama's "moral judgment," as Bill
Bennett did on CNN.
Obama's attempt to
move to the middle of the political spectrum will have to overcome two
major obstacles: the memory of Rev. Wright at the National Press Club
and Obama's voting record on the BAIP Act.
Obama does seem to
have distanced himself successfully from his old pastor, but once
Americans start asking why he would allow doctors to deny medical
treatment to a newborn child, it may raise larger questions about moral
judgment.