So it was a bit of a shock when Barack recently claimed that he opposed late-term abortions for the mental health of a mother. From Relevant Magazine:
Obama: I absolutely can, so please don’t believe the emails. I have repeatedly said that I think it’s entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term.
Online pro-abortion lefties went nuts. For example:
NARAL leaders ought to feel like idiots.
...
Looks like no one will be pleased with his new position. As I've said all along about his religious outreach, you don't get something for nothing and if he wants the evangelical vote, he's going to have to offer them something. Is this it?
Well, Obama couldn't take the heat. So his campaign has "clarified" his obviously inartful words:
Reporter: You said that mental distress shouldn't be a reason for late-term abortion?
Obama: "My only point is this -- historically I have been a strong believer in a women's right to choose with her doctor, her pastor and her family. And it is ..I have consistently been saying that you have to have a health exception on many significant restrictions or bans on abortions including late-term abortions.
In the past there has been some fear on the part of people who, not only people who are anti-abortion, but people who may be in the middle, that that means that if a woman just doesn't feel good then that is an exception. That's never been the case.
I don't think that is how it has been interpreted. My only point is that in an area like partial-
birth abortion having a mental, having a health exception can be defined rigorously. It can be defined through physical health, It can be defined by serious clinical mental-health diseases. It is not just a matter of feeling blue. I don't think that's how pro-choice folks have interpreted it. I don't think that's how the courts have interpreted it and I think that's important to emphasize and understand."
I'm not surprised. After all, Obama has already said that his own children should be allowed to have abortions so they wouldn't be "punished with a baby".
But did Obama just make a mistake in his previous statement? Or was he, as some left-wing groups insist, trying to buy off the evangelical vote by taking their side on the notion of a mental health exception.
Current late-term abortion law mostly just has a life-of-the-mother exception, not a health exception. The reason is that health exceptions invariably are no exceptions at all. And before anybody says I'm being unfair and that women and doctors wouldn't lie, remember this;
In Roe Vs Wade, "Roe" presented herself, with expert testimony support, as a victim of rape, even though she admitted later she was never raped. It was a lie to try to win popular support for her case. (Some probably don't know that Roe never aborted her child, her child is now pro-life, as is Roe. Not surprising, as being able to love and be loved by a human being you were trying to kill can have that effect on you).
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