Obama On Abortion: McCain "Extreme"

WASHINGTON — Republican John McCain, an abortion rights opponent with a conservative Senate record on the issue, seems content with the public's perception that he's more moderate on the subject.

Democrat Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights, is only too happy to remind voters where McCain stands, but he tries to make his case without attracting too much attention.

Both presidential candidates are gingerly trying to strike the right chord on abortion as they reach out to a critical voting group _ independents and moderates, primarily women in swing-voting suburban regions of crucial states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio.

The candidates' carefully targeted ads on abortion and stem-cell research, topics that enflame passions among both abortion-rights proponents and opponents, illustrate how Republicans and Democrats alike are tailoring their messages to specific groups of voters.

Obama criticizes McCain in ads that say the GOP nominee takes an "extreme position on choice" and "will make abortion illegal." That misrepresents McCain's position. The Arizona senator favors overturning the Supreme Court's guarantee of abortion rights but would let states decide their own abortion laws, and he is not seeking a constitutional ban.

Obama is using low-profile radio ads and campaign mailings to make his point about McCain. He hopes to avoid being tagged as too liberal on abortion.

McCain, for his part, is responding with radio commercials promising to support stem cell research to "unlock the mystery of cancer, diabetes, heart disease." He doesn't mention that he supports embryonic stem cell research, which many anti-abortion Republicans oppose.

Cultural issues have largely taken a back seat in this campaign to the frail economy and the Iraq war, as well as questions of character and promises of change.

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But with the race close, each candidate is trying to woo voters concerned about particular issues in hopes they will help tip the balance on Nov. 4. As with abortion, the candidates are likely to use radio and campaign mail on other social topics, such as gun control and gay rights.

Independent groups also are getting into the act with TV ads. One is trying to make Obama look out of the mainstream even among abortion rights supporters by casting him as far left. Another is encouraging McCain to "embrace a pro-life agenda."

Unlike Democratic presidential nominees Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, Obama has not shied away from using abortion to reach out to independents and moderate Republicans.

Democrats say President Bush's Supreme Court selections of conservatives John Roberts and Samuel Alito gave Obama an opening to press the issue.

"Women are more worried now about the future of the court than in either of the last two election cycles, and Obama has been tapping into that and making this issue a big difference between him and McCain," said Democratic analyst Jenny Backus.

Republicans say Obama doesn't understand that people generally are more conservative than liberal and tend not to be single-issue voters on abortion.

"For the Obama people to try to make McCain into this passionate pro-lifer, it doesn't make any sense," said Rich Galen, a Republican operative.

Obama's radio ad, running in Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and elsewhere, features nurse practitioner Valerie Baron telling voters: "John McCain's out of touch with women today. McCain wants to take away our right to choose."

Glossy fliers with the same messages fill the mailboxes of women in Florida, Virginia and other states.

Countering that effort, McCain rolled out his own radio ad suggesting he's not as far right on abortion as Obama makes him seem _ though he never mentions that procedure.

Instead, McCain's commercial focused on stem cell research and said he will invest more money in research to prevent disease and find medical breakthroughs to "help free families from the fear and devastation of illness."

Like Obama, McCain backs relaxing federal restrictions on financing of embryonic stem cell research while running mate Sarah Palin _ along with many conservatives in the GOP _ opposes that method because human embryos are destroyed.

McCain opposes abortion rights except when the life of the mother is in danger and, unlike Palin, in cases of rape or incest. He has voted for abortion restrictions permissible under Roe v. Wade and has said the 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion rights should be overturned, leaving states to decide.

Obama and his running mate Joe Biden favor federal money for embryonic stem cell research and largely agree on abortion. But Biden was among a minority of Democrats in voting several times in favor of banning the procedure that opponents call partial birth abortion.

Comments

[anticommunist1]

Why isn't there anything on this entire site regarding partial-birth abortion, or that Obama's stance on abortion is so extreme that even Nancy Pelosi can't agree with him on everything.

Obama supported a law that allowed aborted babies who were born alive not to be recesitated, but instead left on tables until they stopped breathing.

McCain/Palin aren't going to make abortion illegal. Everyone complains that Bush is pro-life, but is abortion still legal after 8 years of his administration? YES. This is just a scare tactic, because there's no way that Roe v. Wade will be overturned by a pro-life administration. Maybe they'll just insist that babies alive outside the womb not be murdered. Scary stuff, huh?

[InjunTrouble]

I just saw the video being passed around the net showing Obama talking about the abortion question being above his pay grade

This is terrible preparation - how come he was not prepared for such a question - these conservative fanatics are bound to ask such things. How come his campaign staff did not anticipate this?

If Obama needs any help, he should look at http://www.sentforlife.com/abortion.html for some answers.

[sunnydaz]

There are some who view abortion as a means to a political end. Those individuals who pick and choose those that deserve that sacred life-- the unborn, yes. The death row inmate-- not so much. All those who call for "God's war!" And why are the loudest voices about abortion always, well, male? Or those females who pander to power-based men? (Palin)
As a pragmatist, I don't see the real value in continuing the discussion on this. News to Christian extremist-- you wil not be successful in crossing your arms, blinking twice, and expecting the genie to go back in the bottle. That ship has sailed. The option of abortion is part of the american framework, and your "our way or the highway," isn't going to change anything. News flash to "pro choice"- "I don't believe life begins at conception" argument was always flimsy at best. Make sure there's no choice needed in the first place. Recognize that abstinence isn't a solution, it's a cop out. Be a strong parent. Don't glorify teen sex by putting Palin's daughter or Jamie Lynn Spears on TV. Crack down on the sexualization of our children in the media. Don't allow women hatred to propagate through music and films. Teach your sons to be better men, not to pressure for "sexual conquests." Teach sons to keep their zippers zipped. Stop trying to control everyone else's life decisions, and start doing a better job at home.

[Teamster]

This is a vote reason for yea or nay.

1. Carbon momoxide form fossile fuels will polute drinking water and the future air we beath
2. Nations states intensions and responce
3. Oil spills are inevitable of our waterways and more
4. Society choices that we know have failed .

Not the canidate the choices!

[XME]

Funny how the right is all for the gov not banning their rights when it comes to guns. Of course that doesn't mean you're "pro-killing", just that they want the FREEDOM to own a gun if they CHOOSE to.

BUT, when it comes to abortion rights, they're a bunch of hypocrites on FREEDOM.

[6gun]

UMMM...XME.... the Declaration of Independence (of the USA) recognizes the inalienable RIGHT to life for all Americans...some of us NATURALLY include human male and female unborn babies....and we all KNOW they are ALIVE. We just want the babies to SURVIVE long enough to experience the FREEDOM the mother enjoys.

The Second Amendment to the Bill of rights of the Constitution of the United States establishes our RIGHT to keep and bear arms. No one dies if I don't own a gun.

[XME]

"No one dies if I don't own a gun."

And I could say the same... "No one dies if I CHOOSE not to have an abortion".

[Whinger]

I am not pro-abortion, but women must have free will in the matter, the right to choose!

I do not have the right to force others to comply with my point of view!

[6gun]

What if the one above Obama's "pay grade" wrote in the sky "Life begins at conception, they are Human Persons just like you!"....would you still insist on the right to choose? Yes or No?

[InjunTrouble]

The unfertilized cell as well as the sperm are living cells too.

The question is not when life begins, but when a human being begins exist.

You can look at http://www.sentforlife.com/abortion.html for some answers.

[Dane1911]

Keep it comiung Obama...hit good and hit hard.....I love this Obama....you hit him on the economy and you hit him on women rights......

[cherlybear]

The question is NOT whether you believe in abortion or not. The question is whether or not GOVERNMENT should legislate it. Should government play this role in our personal lives?

Personally, I don't think it's any of the government's business.

[SemiRock]

Totally agree. Obama got a lot of flack for saying determining if like begins at conception or at birth or somewhere in between is "above his paygrade" but I think that is the exact truth.

It is a moral issue, and it is not government's job to legislate morality. I thought that the Republican party, out of anyone, would take this stance, as they are the party that claims less involvement in people's lives, but they contradict themselves again, mainly to pander for votes from the religious right.

Nothing new in Republican land - pandering for votes, just like this campaign.

[IndependentTogether]

I look at the Conservative's view on abortion similar to the way that I view their views on deregulation. Rules and regulations were put in place to deal with Depression-era corruption. In recent times, Conservatives made a strong, and unfortunately, successful push for deregulation. We are now experiencing the results of this blunder.

Likewise, if they get their way on abortion, we will all learn... AGAIN... why Roe v. Wade was necessary.

Wether the issue is financial or societal, who pays for the Conservative's ignorance of history? We all do.

[BowlingForRevenge]

CONT'D
The death certificate said the MD saw her 2 days before she died but couldn't save her.
The father was so distraught he took the children away from their mother's family only to hit the bottom of the barrel 2 years later and gave the children to their maternal grandmother. He then drank himself to death by 1935.

Is this what we want to happen because if Roe v Wade is reversed it will happen over and over and over again.

[scarletti]

Oh my goodness, what a terrible, tragic story. Thank you for sharing your personal family story that is so horrific. I hope that people who read this post consider what you say seriously. I pray (and i'm not religious) that we don't have to face the reality of Roe v Wade being overturned. I'm so terrified for our rights as women. I hope we never have to face life as your great aunt faced.

I wish you peace,
Lauren

Obama/Biden

[XME]

Thanks. Conservatives only look at the small picture, but as this story reminds us, there is a MUCH bigger picture that needs to be considered. I honestly believe that most women view the right to choose as something that should be available in extreme situations, and that most will likely never opt to have an abortion. They do no view it as a means of birth control, but that's how conservatives tend to paint us.

Part of freedom is giving people the right to make their own decisions, based on what is best for EVERYONE inolved, not just the unborn child. It would seem that conservatives don't care about the rights of everyone is affected by the right to choose, only ONE of them, sometimes at the expense of the lives of those others that are effected.

[gorideabike]

There has to be a huge difference between making the correct moral decision, and being forced to do the "right" thing. Why bother to teach right and wrong at any spiritual level when the question is reduced to the action that will keep a person out of jail?

[BowlingForRevenge]

I have a copy of my great aunts death certificate from 1931...in the midst of The Great Depression.
Her death was caused by a strep infection caused by a botched home abortion....typed in is the word ABORTION as the contributing factor by the MD.
My great aunt had 2 young children and she and her mechanic husband were out of work ,they had lost there home and had just moved in with 2 other sisters and their families.
Her youngest sister is 96 and still living and a few years ago when I was doing family genealogy and discovered the death certificate I asked her what had happened. She said it was when she was 19 and a newlywed and her oldest sister was 30 and had been married for 11 years. The 5 sisters and their mother were all there when it happened. She said it wasn't the first nor the last in the group. Her only explanation was "Times were very bad and we did what we had to do for the children we had and that's all I'm going to say about it." She teared up but held her head high and I could tell she was reliving the horror.

[luvobama]

I am so sorry for your grandma. I am sorry for the countless others who had or witnessed the same tragedies during that time.

It is time America woke up and grew up.

Obama/Bide­n/Sanity/0­8

[CompetenceMatters]

Your grandmother's story is every bit as harrowing as any story that men tell of what they experienced in a war, the closest thing I can think of to help men understand(those that don't already).
Both are preventable, sadly enough. Sex ed, contraception, and safe medical abortions in the first case, eradication of poverty, tolerance, and diplomacy in the second.

[pattio66]

"Republicans say Obama doesn't understand that people generally are more conservative than liberal and tend not to be single-issue voters on abortion."

I don't consider myself a single issue voter, but choice is and will always be one of my top issues...I would find it incredibly difficult to cast a vote for an anti-choice candidate. To vote for an anti-choice candidate is to betray the women who came before me, they who did the hard work of gaining my not-yet-equal but definitely better-tha­n-came-bef­ore rights!

[lizr]

I am far from a single issue voter -peace is my biggest priority- but I WILL NEVER vote for any ticket that is anti choice. Because that is Anti American. And violates my rights as a woman.

[EducatedDerelict]

On this, Sen. Obama is wrong. Abortion is extreme.

People who have had the opportunity to live, to be born - especially mothers fighting for their rights and the rights of their daughters - are like abolitionists supporting slavers' right to enslave and keep slaves. Those who believe in life and have chosen to bear children are supporting death.... I do not understand the philosophical debate. Killing anything else - animals, necessary bacteria even - would be sternly rejected. Is it that we don't think that embryos or babies still in the womb are living beings when we abort them? They do not have brains or hearts or souls? They are not defenseless, independent beings to be protected?

It seems like women's reproductive rights; they obliterate the child (most important) and the father. Woman's right to choose makes the father only a donor. The child is a part of the mother, like hair she can cut off or nails she can choose to paint any color she likes.... The mother is not merely a receptacle in this scheme, however. No, she is elevated to the status of God. That is to say, she may choose whether a living being has the right to life.

Many are offended by the death penalty. I am offended by abortion and the death penalty for the same reason – we are not wise enough to make the decision that, under any circumstances, a living being may be killed.

[luvobama]

Then i guess you and I will not be talking about the 4,100 plus and still growing number of ki ll ings that have gone on in the republicans' unjust, based on lies war.

I am with you. I value all life. Unfortunately, as long as we have unplanned pregnancy, we will always have abortion. Without legalizing it, the only ones that will be safe will be for the wealthy and influential. Unplanned pregnancy is not a class issue. it happens across the board.

Obama would like to eliminate the need. That sounds like the grown up solution to a very complex problem. Obama/Biden/Sanity

[CompetenceMatters]

Exactly, ding, ding, ding. I think we all agree it would be great if there were no abortions. We only disagree on how to make them go away. One tried, but failed, method is to tell people not to have sex unless they mean to have a child. Another tried, and succesful, method is sex ed and contraceptives, along with advising teens that abstaining is the safest methodof birth control and protection against STDs.

We should not argue abortion good, abortion bad, any more than we should argue heart surgery good, heart surgery bad, and then argue about how we might best reduce heart disease.

[wrylass]

That's just Americans, right? Isn't the Iraqi number 100,000+?

[lizr]

NO WOMAN should have to bear a life within her against her will. that simple.

[6gun]

At least you have the guts to call it what it is, "a life." I admire your honesty. Most ProChoice avocates use other language to hide the truth.

[Felicty]

Meanwhile, Levi Johnston is just sitting at their side PRAYING for an abortion.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

Looks like Levi will be off the hook in about five months. Goggle, "is Bristol Palin's babydaddy black" and take a look at the young man in the video. If he is not telling the truth, I am nominating him for an Oscar.

[MizLiz]

Levi's parents should demand a paternity test. From what I read, Bristol's been a busy little party girl. Could be anybody's.

[FACINGREALIT]

Have you noticed that no one in the Palin camp has come out and denounced that video by the black male? Isn't that strange given or do they think perhaps there is a chance it is real, given that there are pictures of the underage Bristol being in possession of alchol.

I've also noticed that Bristol and Levi have disappeared from the media. Maybe Levi is requiring a DNA analysis or as they say on Maury, "you are NOT the father' moment.

[luvobama]

I would never stop laughing if that were the case.

[jacqmac]

McCain's tired old 'let the states decide' IS an extreme position. It is the old 'state's rights' position of countless other candidates. "States' rights' is older than McCain. Which side of this 'extreme' position do you think that Mississippi would fall on? Mississiippi that only has ONE Planned Parenthood clinic in the ENTIRE STATE? Which side do you think that even NEW YORK would fall on? That is why the Roe v. Wade decision was made. To ELIMINATE this 'states rights' argument. No one ever worked for Roe v. Wade that used abortion as a primary means of birth control. But that is what it has been made by the 'base' of the Republican Party. Making abortion illegal would only INCREASE ILLEGAL abortions and an increase in the DEATHS of countless women after a botched procedure.
A DECISION is made based on ALL the facts--NOT on ideology or lack of an alternative. A CHOICE is NO CHOICE if it's the ONLY 'CHOICE' on the menu.