McCain Flips On Abortion: Won't Challenge Party On Rape, Incest Exceptions

ABC News:

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is facing enormous pressure from social conservatives to ignore his repeated commitment to change the GOP's platform on abortion.

"If he were to change the party platform [to recognize exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother], I think that would be political suicide," Tony Perkins, the president of the conservative Family Research Council, told ABC News. "I think he would be aborting his own campaign because that is such a critical issue to so many Republican voters and the Republican brand is already in trouble."

A senior Republican close to McCain told ABC News that building a more inclusive G.O.P. is a top priority for the Arizona senator.

But this adviser does not see changing the party platform to include exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother as necessary for achieving that vision.

Read the whole story: ABC News

Comments

[sammy333]

Have you noticed the slightly out-of-focus face of Lieberman right next to McCain's. It is funny that the neocon-in-chief is on half of his photos and is almost always within the rich of McCain's hearing aid. JL was a kiss of death of Al Gore, hopefully he will deliver in this case too.

[aznurse]

Who cares?? There's nothing he could say to make me vote for him.

[lornejl]

Oh yeah ? What if he gave you a gas tax holiday ? Sweetens the pie doesn't it ?

[GingerB]

LOL! You're joking, right?

[RedKnuckles]

I hope all Hillary supporters who are threatening to vote for McCain or stay home (if Obama wins the nomination) are paying attention to this issue, one that will set back women's rights by decades.

[DocR]

So true. Who would have thought McCain could swing farther to the right on the abortion issue. Who is advising this guy, Alfred E Neuman.

[NightRider]

"If he doesn't change the platform, then he's being the same kind of hypocrite that he accused Bush of being in 2000," said Jennifer Blei Stockman, the co-chairwoman of Republican Majority for Choice. "To not accept abortion in cases of rape and incest, give me a break. That's sick. That's inhumane."

"And the life of the mother?" she added. "These are things that we can't even put our arms around because they are so inhumane."

Even more of a Hypo in 2008.

Remarkable!

[1differentdrummer]

Have you ever known a girl who became pregnant as a result of rape by a family member? I did, and that was so sad. She was seventeen, a high school junior student of mine. Should she have had the baby? I don't think so.

[helonias]

Sing along with me my friends

Every sperm is sacred.

Every sperm is Great

If any sperm gets wasted.

God gets quite irate

Thank god for Monty P

[BlueOnBlue]

Why does anyone think McCain has ever had a moderate record on abortion? He may say things which mislead various audiences, because that's what he always does, but here is what he actually does...

Supports repealing Roe v. Wade. (May 2007)
Voted YES on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP. (Mar 2008)
Voted YES on barring HHS grants to organizations that perform abortions. (Oct 2007)
Voted YES on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines. (Apr 2007)
Voted YES on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (Jul 2006)
Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
Voted YES on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime. (Mar 2004)
Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions except for maternal life. (Mar 2003)
Voted YES on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record. (Dec 2003)

The only place he departed from the hard anti-abortion line is on stem cell research.

McCain gets credit he does not deserve for moderation. He does this by talking nice, especially in settings where he thinks he isn't being recorded (barbecues with reporters, parties with Arianna and the rest of Hollywood, etc). In the Senate, he has been straight hardcore.

[VivaZapata]

thanks for the voting record data. i was surprised.

[GingerB]

"The only place he departed from the hard anti-abortion line is on stem cell research."

Give 'im time. No one's brought up the issue yet so he hasn't had to take the extreme rightwing position yet. But ya know he will.

[helonias]

Men do not get pregnant and should keep their gobs shut on such matters.

[helonias]

What would John think if he was rapped and pregnant and such a pregnancy might effect his own life?

Its like the old George Carlin saying, If men could get pregnant you would be able to get abortions at the 7-11 at any time.

[PrdAmerican]

So basically, McCain supports the idea that a father can have incest with his daughter and get her pregnant..­...and anyone who thinks this doesn't happen, there's a woman in Austria who will tell you differently.

[TinaFreeman]

I am a Christian and strongly support a woman's right to choose. I personally choose life, but I know that if we outlaw abortion (which will LIKELY happen if McCain is elected and puts a conservative judge on the supreme court), we will lose our DAUGHTERS! Young women will die in desperation in back-alley abortions.­..it didn't work before, and it won't work now. Of course, the wealthy will always have abortion available by going to another country.

Christians can do a lot more to help by making the world a friendlier place for young women who find themselves alone and pregnant..­.can we be more supportive? Can we not treat them like tramps? Can we find ways to provide more subsidized day care for low-income young women so they can complete college and support their babies? Can we make it easier for those who are willing to offer their babies for adoption, as their are an abundance of couples unable to conceive who would love to adopt a baby?

Overturning Roe v. Wade is not the answer...

[Pyrrhus]

I agree. Although I too am personally against abortion, it's not my place to tell others, especially those that have been raped or molested by their fathers, what to do.

I heard of a solution to this many years ago from a relative, but nobody has ever brought it up. Why don't we outlaw abortion (except in the case of when the mother's life is in jeopardy), and TAX the pro-lifers for the care of these children? After all, if abortion is illegal, they are responsible for it being so, and ergo responsible for their care (this is a real stretch of the intervening and superceding act doctrine, but it's the besy I have). The taxes received go directly to the care and raising of these children, whether in foster homes or in group care facilities. The tax would be optional based on responses received at yearly filings.

I bet you anything that if this ever happened, you'd see a massive switch to pro-choice. Heck, you might even see birth control taught in schools again.

[TinaFreeman]

LOL that would definitely work! When the neo-cons got hit in the pocketbook, suddenly their priorities would change. Too bad it would never pass...

It's funny, isn't it? The same folks that don't want to offer help for the poor to get day care, get a college education, get health care...are the same ones that want to force young women to have children they cannot afford to support...­.sending these women into a cycle of poverty that they so decry as laziness..­.

[MajorKong]

But he's a straight-talkin' maverick!

[mjgyuma]

What most people don't know is that the chance McCain has some form of dementia is 11%. That is to say, there is a one in nine chance the Republican nominee suffers an incurable, progressive disease that will erode his memory, judgement and self control while he is president. (Don't take my word for it, check the statistics with the Alzheimer's Association yourselves. One in nine American males 71 or older HAS some form of dementia.)

So seen in the context of possible dementia I think suddenly all McCain's confused, contradictory and mistaken statements lately are quite understandable.

[kellygrrrl]

chip chip chip

... another little piece of your soul John

[Erdgeist]

You have to admire John McCain's 'straight talk' these days. John will do or saying anything to get elected. There is no fundamentalist Christian belief--no matter how crazy--he won't take up just as Jesus took up the Cross. His party's position on rape and incest--John is for it.

Even if it means pushing the U.S. closer to Armageddon by nuking Iran, there will stand straight talking John McCain with Rev. Hagee, both asking God to damn Iran, along with Senator Joe Liberman waving the flag of Israel.

God, how inspiring!

[ltyr2002]

LOL!
"I could no more disown Reverend Wright than I could the black community!"

Remember that? Hahaha!

I guess Obama has now disowned the black community right? I mean... Wright?

[KBAR]

Oh, that was BEFORE he actually HEARD one on the Rev.'s sermons.20 years and didn't hear one BUT a replay before the press club 'opened his eyes'.

[evekendall]

McCain is such a re-run.

[ChiGuy]

Anything to make Rush and the gang happy, eh John?

Keep pulling these blatant flip-flops,McCain.
You're burying your chances even deeper with every statement you put out.