Obama On Late Abortion: Mental Distress Doesn't Justify It

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says "mental distress" should not qualify as a justification for late-term abortions, a key distinction not embraced by many supporters of abortion rights.

In an interview this week with "Relevant," a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain "a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother."

Obama then added: "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."

Last year, after the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on late-term abortions, Obama said he "strongly disagreed" with the ruling because it "dramatically departs form previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women."

The health care exception is crucial to abortion rights advocates and is considered a legal loophole by abortion opponents. By limiting the health exception to a "serious physical issue," Obama set himself apart from other abortion rights proponents.

The official position of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group that endorsed Obama in May, states: "A health exception must also account for the mental health problems that may occur in pregnancy. Severe fetal anomalies, for example, can exact a tremendous emotional toll on a pregnant woman and her family."

The 1973 landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade, established a right to an abortion, and a concurrent case, Doe v. Bolton, established that medical judgments about the need for an abortion could include physical, emotional and psychological health factors.

"Senator Obama has consistently maintained that laws restricting abortions must contain exceptions for the health and life of the mother," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said Thursday. "Obviously, as he stated in the interview, he has consistently believed those exceptions should be clear and limited enough to ensure that they don't undermine the prohibition on late-term abortions."

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Obama's position is similar to that taken by a bipartisan group of senators in 1998 who tried to counter efforts to ban certain late-term abortions with their own legislation. That proposal, which failed, would have banned all late-term abortions except for those that are necessary to protect the physical health of the mother.

In a statement, NARAL Pro-Choice said Obama's magazine interview is consistent with Roe v. Wade.

"Sen. Obama has consistently said he supports the tenets set forth by Roe, and has made strong statements against President Bush's Federal Abortion Ban, which does not have an exception to protect a woman's health," the organization's statement said.

A leading abortion opponent, however, said Obama's rhetoric does not match his voting record and his previously stated views on abortion rights.

David N. O'Steen, the executive director of National Right to Life, said Obama's remarks to the magazine "are either quite disingenuous or they reflect that Obama does not know what he is talking about."

"You cannot believe that abortion should not be allowed for mental health reasons and support Roe v Wade," O'Steen said.

In the interview with Relevant, conducted on Tuesday, Obama also defended his opposition to restrictions on induced abortions where the fetus sometimes survives for short periods. Obama voted against such a bill when he was in the Illinois Senate. He has said he supported a federal version of the law that contained more specific language because he feared the Illinois proposal would have applied to all abortions.

"There was a bill that came up in Illinois that was called the 'Born Alive' bill that purported to require life-saving treatment to such infants. And I did vote against that bill," Obama said Tuesday. "The reason was that there was already a law in place in Illinois that said that you always have to supply life-saving treatment to any infant under any circumstances, and this bill actually was designed to overturn Roe v. Wade, so I didn't think it was going to pass constitutional muster."

Comments

[Marlyn]

Oh the horrors of abortion. Let's have a big look at how it's done, one more time.

But on the other hand, let us NOT look at the horrors of war that occur in foreign lands everyday because of the USA. Let's not look at that.

Which is the bigger HORROR?

Barack Obama, you were right in the beginning when you honored women by allowing them to decide when and if to bear children, with the help of their doctor, you said.

Now you "compromise" to the fearful images from the right. Sad.

[Catharsis]

Quite witty. Sad that you discount that a wide range of things must be discussed other than Messopotamia. Got a grate?

[cdifrances]

The film convinced me that no child should be born which is not wanted by parent(s). Then there was the case of the 30 or so year old man who, though he wasn't married, decided he'd like to adopt a child, and hired a surrogate who already had all the children she and her husband wanted. He paid her $30K for a beautiful baby boy and beat him to death before he was 4 months old. I could go on and on. What about the woman who drowned four children in the bathtub because she was hearing voices her that they were bad. I think she was on death row for a while until they decided she was mentally ill. Her husband may have been somewhat of a control freak; and she, weak-minded. I don't know, perhaps had she the where-with-all to seek help in terminating a pregnancy, that horrible tragedy may not have occurred.

[rzan]

what do you propose, in retrospect, that these people should have been forced to have abortions? I am not against a woman's right to choose, but there are evil people in the world. Even children who are wanted are abused. There are also stories about children who have survived their circumstances and done well. The woman of whom you speak who killed her children was religious. She was suffering from postpartum psychosis that went untreated. The fact of her children is not the problem; it is the fact that she did not get the help she needed. Her doctor and her husband ignored the obvious signs. I myself come from a terribly abusive environment, but I'm glad my mother did not choose abortion.

[cdifrances]

The horrors of abortion? How about looking at the horrors of child abuse occurring in dysfunctional families, many of which are poor and perhaps unable to care for a child.
I saw a film in a class in Child Psychology years ago, which convinced me that abortion should legal, cheap and widely available to all. The film focused on the plight of two little girls, children of a druggie prostitute, who neglected them so severely that the 2 year old could not sit up and the 4 year old was not yet able to walk or talk. They were kept in a small room in a filthy crib, were covered with bedsores, and were severely retarded. Fortunately they were rescued, given medical treatment, and then placed in a facility for the mentally retarded, where they were passed among the patients for mutual benefit, somewhat as one would introduce a puppy or a kitten.

[edwarvir]

I agree with you. Barak is right. These kids especially should be
taught how dangerous sex is. they should be given condoms and everything else that will help them not to make such careless decisions.
Life altering .

[rzan]

Late term abortion is horrifying, as is the fact of 1,000,000 casualties in the War in Iraq. I always say that Bush is the biggest abortionist in the country. I am sure that many of the women who have died in Iraq were pregnant. We can be horrified by both. Your defense of late term abortion is actually a minority sentiment. Most people, who know what the process is and the effect on the baby who is dying, are horrified. Barack Obama has not changed his position on abortion; I just think he is a man of conscience.

[msopine]

Why do we continue to let the opponents of a woman's right to choose define the issue of "late term abortions"? 99% of these so-called late term abortions are performed on women who desperately want the baby they are carrying, but something has gone hideously and irrevocably wrong with the pregnancy. Their babies are no longer viable and the expectant mothers are put in the horrible position of having to end this pregnancy, often after they've furnished the nursery to welcome the baby home. The number of women who get a late term abortion because they're stressed is so infintessimal that it doesn't even register in most statistical reports. This heartbreaking decision should be between a woman, her family and her doctor. Allowing the anti-choice brigade to trivialize it and turn it into an "I've changed my mind, I'd rather have a den instead of a nursery" debate is as insulting as it is predictable. That Obama would allow himself to be drawn into this ridiculous framing of the issue worries me more than I can say.

[sandtats]

Well, all of the horrors you describe, "no longer viable, something gone HIDEOULSY wrong;" desperate situtaions, for either the mother or child are NOT, NOT.................WHAT O is talking about! We're discussing the case of late term abortion based upon claims of DISTRESS! What about this discussion are you not comprehending! O is NOT "anti choice," and therein, in those words, lie the nut of the matter. Are you discussing mere "choice," or perilous circumstance? If the latter, you are with Obama; along with the MAJORITY of the nation and medical personnel.

[msopine]

I think most reasonable people can understand what "something hideously wrong with the pregnancy" entails. It means that the baby is so deformed and damaged it will not survive outside the mother or it will only survive for a very short amount of time using extreme life support measures. That's when the overwhelming, if not nearly all the "late term abortions" take place. You might hope that most of the late-term abortions occur based on the whims of hormone-addled women - it certainly makes the anti-choice stance sound better - however, the fact is it simply isn't so and demagoging the issue won't make it so.

[rzan]

I do hope you are right and that 99% of the late term abortions are because the baby is not viable, but there are those who differ with that percentage. I did read that some people who have late term abortions want the baby's body intact so that they may grieve it's death. These are people who very likely wanted the baby, but found out late that the baby was not viable. What a sad event this must be for them.

[DRaymond]

Frankly the easy thing would have been to just to parrot the most hardcore pro-abortion stance rather than accept and try to clarify nuance. I don't really think that in Obama's case this is 'triangulation' so much as really beleiving that the best choices are not found at the extremes of any position.

This is unlike McCain, whose positions on abortion have been all over the map depending on what he was running for and against who.

[Erdgeist]

Finding out the fetus is anacephalic (no brain) is a good reason to have an abortion. I could name a few more problems. But mental distress (usually in the 7th and 8th month) is subjective. Somewhere we must find a middle-way between the fundamentalist Christians who would require every woman with amenorrhea, by law, go to a physician to make sure they are not pregnant, and abortion ad libitum.

[olivia]

So right - it is not black and white, and O is clarifying where he would draw the line. That's not pandering as some have said.

[pupbayer]

Then I think he should not have a late term abortion.

[buckbuck11]

But, the right wing never quits. For them, there IS no acceptable middle ground and they won't stop until Roe is reversed...and money and time must be continually wasted on defending the right to choose and protecting doctors and clinics from the nut cases who inhabit the anti-choice movement. There is no compromise here - either a woman and her doctor have a right to make health decisions or they don't. I wish it weren't the case, but the O-man is deceived if he thinks he can compromise his way to winning over the right wing. It ain't gonna happen.

[calluna]

Can anyone find any case in the annals of medicine where a woman has had a late-term abortion because she was in this much-discussed "mental distress"? My guess is no. Obama is setting up a straw-man (or would it be straw-woman?) argument to put his opposition to late-term abortion on the record in a Christian publication.

[FilthyPerson]

There is no need to analyze this past the fact that a big majority disapproves of partial birth abortion.
Thus the fancy footwork.
However, he's got a 100% pro-abortion voting record.
That includes him opposing the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
That would have given babies who survive an attempted abortion medical treatment.
The only one in distress in those cases are the babies but O still opposes it ... at least until they ask him about it.

[pupbayer]

"However, he's got a 100% pro-abortion voting record."

That was only from NARAL which has turned into a left field nut group. There have been 4 abortion votes since he's been a Senator. He only voted Yes on the one in 2005. He didn't even vote on the other 3. That's a 25% vote rate.

Can you explain how he could have a 100% pro-abortion voting record when he only voted 1 out of 4 votes?

[FilthyPerson]

"He didn't even vote on the other 3."

He does that a lot. Keeps him out of trouble. Some people have been noticing that proclivity.

And sometimes he claims credit for stuff he didn't do.
e.g. he passed welfare reform.

[Bettysdad]

NARAL is a "left-field nut group?"

Since the majority of the country supports what NARAL supports, how could they be anything but in the center?

[joeyp404]

Clearly a stratefy from the very start of his run for president, when he became senator.

[pacats]

There was already a law on the books in Illinois that requires providing medical treatment to all new borns in need. Those infants were given necessary medical treatment. Obama pointed that part out in the article mentioned above.

Democrats 08.

[Kalima]

I have always been pro-choice even though my religion strongly forbids it. I do however
think that late term abortions should only be an option if the mother's life is in danger and
not as a means to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Every woman should have this
choice available in the first 3 months. To deny her the right to decide about her own
body and her own future, borders on oppression and the government of any country,
has no business in this decision.

[jcause28]

Although I don't have the religious ties, I couldn't agree more.

[buckbuck11]

This is a sensible compromise, indeed. However all of the obstacles erected like waiting periods and protesters allowed to intimidate women entering clinics need to be illegal. The research is pretty clear that even in the rare case when a late-term abortion is performed, any number related to a simple desire to terminate a pregnancy doesn't even register statistically.

There also has to be a crack down on fake clinics who lure girls with unwanted pregnancies with "free" medical care and then stall them until it's too late, intimidate them into changing their mind, or freaking them out about their choice. This happens far too frequently.

[Kalima]

I agree about the emotional blackmail used to intimidate young girls to
continue to term with their unwanted pregnancies, it is deplorable both
emotionally and physically. I wonder exactly how many of these babies
were in fact adopted, how many spent their young lives in and out of
foster homes and how many grew up in institutions waiting to be
adopted?
These people who would go to these extreme lengths to save a life of
an unborn, have a lot to answer for. What happens after their birth is
more important to me.

[pupbayer]

To caluna and Mrs. Peel: our "conversation" is now buried on page 3 but I want to reply to your posts.

I absolutely agree there are too many restrictions and too little access. There is no question about that. BUT we still have the right even if we have to travel farther in this country and it may be harder than it should be.

I remember all too well when women had to have the money to fly to England to get an abortion. In 1972, we could go to New York or Washington, D.C. Is it easy now? No. Is it a lot easier than it was? Absolutely. Am I ready to give up what we have now? NO. Do we need to fight harder? YES.

I'm sorry you feel so defeated. Perhaps you could donate money and effort to this cause to try to make a difference. I do. It may not be much but I do what I can and will continue to. I will NEVER give up on freedom for all women.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

What Obamma is saying is this, if a woman is in the throws of a violent miscarriage, hemmoraging seriously and dangerously, is in such fetal distress that no amount of medical intervention can save it, or the mother, or places the mother at risk for bleeding to death, going into heart attack, it is justified. Throwing a temper tantrum, saying I screwed up, want this kid out of my life for good? Not Justified. When I was in the throws of that first situation, it was clear cut, my child was dying in utero, I was hemmoraging and losing a dangerous amount of blood, was going into shock, and my heart rate was dropping. I had no choice, the doctor had no choice. It was a miserable situation for all. It was a sad situation for all, there were no parties, no sighs of relief. The death of a child not by choice was one of the hardest choices I had to make. I am glad I wasn't seen as a monster, rather, as a medical patient who could have died with that child. My question to right wingers is this, if you have never been in that situation, how can you judge people like me, or others who have? Obamma is right on this one. .

[Catharsis]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Thank you for sharing a difficult experience. The worse part is if McBush had his way both you and child would not have made it. I wish people would understand that the decision to vote for Obama versus McBush is a life and death issue when it comes to health care, choice or the war in Iraq and starting other wars.

[Catharsis]

Yeah, but you don't see that McBush would have both not make it through expansion of the woman's rights. Is that not amazing?

[DevilAdvocate]

good point, thanks for giving us this viewpoint.

I was thinking more on the mental health of the mother... there are mothers who become mentally ill because of having a child... as we have seen some can not have them or their illness gets worse as they continue to have babies' For example, if a mother got pregnancy by mistake for the second time or say third and her doctor told her her mental brain pathways could be affected, if she carried to term this would be a mental health issue...which is why I didn't like the mental angle of what Obama stated. There are many women who are bipolar or others and do not know it until she has a baby and it become an issue for the health of the mother and the baby. I think mental health issues, if it will change the life of the mother to a mental state is something we also need to look at....take the case of the mother who killed her seven children because of this very fact. WE need more education of the causes of mental health particularly in the cases of women having babies and this changing their brain pathways.

[bygollymissmolly]

OK HP, this is getting ridiculous. Another seriously misleading headline. I read the article with trepidation thinking that O'bama had changed his stance on abortion. He has not changed anything. And I agree with the distinction. I don't think many women who are pro choice would think that someone late in the term of a pregnancy should be able to get an abortion because the experience is too stressful for them. If they didn't want to carry the baby to term, they had plenty of time to make that decision. If they don't make that decision past a certain date, then they should not be able to make it unless it is a life-threatening situation.

[teron678]

I'll say it again ....

Do you Liberals want when Obama becomes President to attend/govern the Left & forget the Right?

You Liberals wouldn't get everything u want just the the Conservatives wouldn't get everything they want if Mc Cain becomes President ... simple ......

[Catharsis]

We want him to address the "right" in an appropriate manner.

[GLaB]

We want him to give the Right every bit as much respect as Bush gave the Left.

How about that?

[williamg]

Speak for yourself. I'm not interested in a Democratic Bush.

[rzan]

Tit for tat doesn't work. I gives Bush too much power over you.

[Bettysdad]

I don't want Obama to ignore the Right.

I want him to imprison them to save America.

[stop7997]

The policies of the right have been proven to be an utter failure. Obama should be out on the trail articulating this every day. It makes no sense to compromise with the party of failed policies.

[triplbee]

Why is the mainstream media intent upon misrepresenting Obama's views on a host of issues? This is ridiculous. Obama is not breaking with the pro-choice movement at all.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

I guess many people have never know women who have been pregnant. EVERY woman has mental distress late in her pregnancy.

[hank48188]

Obama will tell you what a good reason is for a woman, he is a Doctor isn't he? You Obama supporters must be deaf, dumb and blind. Obama is now supporting the DEATH PENALTY for Child Molesters and more money for Churches than Bush. Obama has been helping his favorite Churches get Gov't money for Years, Rev Wright and Father Mike love that free money.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Let me see a father of two young daughters favors the Death Penalty for grown men raping young women. To me that makes him human and a typical father.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

What would I expect from a racist who said this in the past.

"Blacks are about 12 to 13 percent of the U.S. population, they fill 50% of the prison beds in our country and are about 50% of the people with AIDS in our country, a sad fact. "

I guess you think people cannot read your profile. I guess you were rather see Obama in prison.

[Harrygton]

What's wrong with the death penalty for child molester? Oh yes! I agree, I would prefer quartering with four horses! You right wing trolls are so transparent!

[teron678]

Obama just do what you're doing ...I trust your judgment ... you did find in the primaries .. you'll do the same in the G.E

Don't let the right or the left .. manipulate you .... You vying to be the President of the United Sates of America .. not the United States of Liberal America ..

Excerpt from his 2004 speech "This country is not liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican" ...

You Left-wingers & Right-wingers are to be blamed for this division ........

[booksnmore4you]

Amen.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Again there is a day and night difference on this issue with 0bama and McBush.

0bama believes in abortion rights and McBush does not (period).

These constant machinations over particular aspects of the gray areas on these issues does not matter looking at the big picture.

[GJP2006]

It must be increasingly difficult for folks to defend Obama in these "gray" areas. Again, back to the lesser of two evils - I get that.

[Catharsis]

If you expanded the interpretation to the absolute limits, you'd see that both favor women's rights.

[Jason357]

Has Obama every had mental distress?? He made a similar crack about some guy just having a bad day had no right to smoke a joint. Maybe he'd be happier if the guy just got drunk and got in a fight. If you listen real close to Obama, he views life through an odd lens. Who is he to determine, as a government official, whether an individual is sufficiently tormented by life? He has a strong whiff of "i know better."

[rzan]

I sure as hell hope he knows better. And I hope he believes that of himself. We need a strong confident and intelligent president.