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After a few weeks of spinning, dodging, and weaving on the issue of his minister’s controversial comments, no doubt
Sen. Barack Obama may have breathed a sigh of relief as the story began to fade. That’s when he made a few controversial
remarks of his own.
Asked at a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania what he would do regarding the AIDS crisis, the senator remarked on the importance
of teaching comprehensive sex education and abstinence. He then went on:
"The most important prevention is education, which should include...teaching the children... you know, that sex is not something
casual... Look, I've got two daughters, nine-years-old and six-years-old. I am going to teach them first about values and
morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD at age
16, so it doesn't make sense to not give them information [about contraception or abortion]."
His use of the word "punishment" to describe a baby has troubled some. For those who have been willing to look beyond his
“smoothness” and acknowledged competence as a speaker, however, his remarks come as no startling new revelation.
As columnist Terence Jeffrey says, “Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate ever.”
During his eight years in the Illinois legislature, Obama received a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood
Council for his support of abortion “rights.”
In the Illinois Senate, Obama stood alone in opposing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which would have guaranteed the
same constitutional right to equal protection to babies who survive an abortion.
On the day of the vote, March 30, 2001, speaking from the floor, he opined that the bill placed an undue burden on doctors
to keep a child alive. "We're probably crossing the line in terms of unconstitutionality," he said.
In 2003, Democrats took control of the Illinois Senate. As the new chairman of the Health and Human Services committee, to
which the Born Alive Infants Protection Act was sent, Obama prevented it from even getting a hearing. His radical stance on
the issue put him further left than even NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Thankfully, his concerns about the bill’s constitutionality were not shared at the federal level, as a near-identical
bill was passed by the U.S. Congress. The vote in the U.S. Senate was unanimous, even garnering the support of Barbara Boxer,
Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. President Bush signed it into law on August 5, 2002.
In February 2004, Michelle Obama circulated a fundraising letter stating her concern over the “rise of conservatism”
in America, and arguing that that “so-called partial-birth abortion” was a legitimate medical procedure that should
be protected.
Calling partial-birth abortion “a legitimate medical procedure,” she asked supporters to pony up $150 to attend
a luncheon for the senator, promising he would fight the “cynical ploys” to stop it. When the Congress voted to
ban this heinous practice, Obama was one of only five senators who voted against the measure.
More recently, he voted against Sen. John Ensign's bill that aimed to encourage parental involvement in abortion decisions
of minor children. The measure would have authorized government funds to enforce the laws that prevent taking minors across
state lines for a secret abortion.
Polished as he seems on the surface, he seems particularly rough on the defenseless. Apparently all his talk of “hope”
and “the future” doesn’t extend to the unborn.
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