McCain Mockingly Suggests That Concerns For A Mother's Health Are Extreme

The differences of opinion surrounding the issue of access to safe and legal abortion, and a woman's right to choose to have one, have long been a mainstay of political debate. But tonight, I believe, featured a historical moment in that debate, because until tonight, I had never seen the matter of a woman's health given AIR SCARE QUOTES. But that's precisely what John McCain did, sneeringly, as he attempted to portray support for a mother's health as an extreme position, when in fact, it is a mainstream position -- ground that even fervent pro-life individuals often concede.

Reached for comment, Megan Carpentier of womens' issues blog Jezebel had this to say:

It used to be that McCain was leading the charge to reform the Republican platform to include exceptions for the life and health of the mother to their anti-abortion plank. That tonight he declared his own position extreme -- let alone called a woman that chooses her own continued existence over the potential future life of a fetus "extreme" -- is a pretty significant and rather disgusting charge.

I concur, absolutely and without reservation.

[WATCH.]

UPDATE:

Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, weighs in:

"Tonight, John McCain showed he doesn't care about women's health when he described protecting "the health of the woman" as "extreme." John McCain doesn't seem to understand that women's health matters. He blatantly showed that he doesn't trust women to decide what is in the best interest of their own health. Barack Obama, on the other hand, stood up for women's health."

Comments

[AlphaDoc]

07:22 AM on 10/17/2008

It's obvious that McCain has no respect for women. His choice of Palin, in the mistaken belief that it would fool us into thinking otherwise, just proves how out of touch he really is.

[milo h minderbinder]

08:49 AM on 10/17/2008

And I know many women were extremely insulted when he said Palin is a role model.

[PaulBradford]

08:18 PM on 10/16/2008

Linkins provided quotes from two Pro-Choice groups in his article. He needs a quote from a Pro-Life group. I'll gladly provide it:

"Pro-Life advocates need to assure the public that our actions are motivated by a desire to advance human rights. We're not doing ourselves any favors by ridiculing concerns about a woman's health."

I, for one, was horrified by McCain's antics.

Paul Bradford
Pro Life Catholics for Choice

[screamingbanshee]

08:02 PM on 10/16/2008

PRO-CHOICE is NOT PRO-ABORTION!
say it with me people: PRO-CHOICE IS NOT PRO-ABORTION
again: PRO-CHOICE IS NOT PRO-ABORTION

you can CHOOSE what dip you want for your chicken tenders, you can choose what car you drive, you can even CHOOSE what interest rate you want to pay! (ok, well maybe not anymore)
and YOU CAN CHOOSE TO SAVE A LIFE. You can even choose to be PRO-LIFE - you just CAN'T make MY CHOICE for me!

PRO-CHOICE IS NOT PRO-ABORTION. PROTECT THE PRIVACY OF ALL CITIZENS.

[PaulBradford]

08:40 PM on 10/16/2008

Pro-Choice and pro-abortion are different things. It's possible to be one and not the other; but it's also possible to be both.

You're Pro-Choice if you believe that the person who should decide whether to terminate a pregnancy is the mother herself; you're pro-abortion if, when she decides to terminate, your sympathies are with her rather than her child.

[jabe]

07:01 PM on 10/16/2008

I referenced this article in a blog post discussing how insulting McCain's actions were.
http://chicagoinsider.us/

[Tizzlepiss]

06:43 PM on 10/16/2008

I have been reading everyone's posts, and most of them are excellent. Well written. Full of good sense. I feel I need to point out one thing, though, that really sticks with me. I can't tell you how many McCain supporters, when trying to win me over, have said to me, "Oh, don't worry about them overturning Roe vs Wade. That's never going to happen." My fellow Americans, it not only can happen, but if we are not vigilent, it will happen before we realize it. All they need to do to get the job done is get an anti-choice President, Senate and Congress in there and vote in a few new very conservative Supreme Court Justices in there and Voila! Roe vs Wade is overturned. You're reproductive rights are taken away.
This past eight years our rights have one by one been ebbing away under Bush and the Republicans . DO NOT SIT ON YOUR LAURELS! Obama/Biden, Democrats, and moderate Republicans need your votes. VOTE, but DO IT CAREFULLY. Do your homework and make sure this very precious right is not taken away from us.

[rationaldefender]

05:14 PM on 10/16/2008

This is why journalists are as bad as politicians: you take a statement, misrepresent it, use someone else as your mouthpiece to avoid having to weigh both sides. Irresponsible and stupendously stupid.

[MossyOak]

05:01 PM on 10/16/2008

This argument reminds me of how I felt voting for the medical marijuana referendum in Montana last election. Why should voters be deciding what a doctor can prescribe for a patient?

[sharonh]

07:30 PM on 10/16/2008

Why is marijuana illegal?

[cariintexas]

04:53 PM on 10/16/2008

That very response really made me angry, especially after Obama said " EXCEPT WHEN A MOTHERS LIFE IS AT RISK ". Mc cain stood there and made fun of any woman whose life depended on what option a doctor would have. No surprise Mc cain would take women so lightly, since he has voted against every womens issue that would benefit women.

[caterpol]

03:55 PM on 10/16/2008

Sorry, but this whole debate is wrong headed. And whileI responded to another poster with something similar, here again is the bottom line.

Politicians are uniquely unqualified to determine whether a mother's "health" is an issue. Only a doctor and his/her patient can make that assertation.

To repeat: A woman's health choices are ABSOLUTELY NONE of McCain's business. Period. And anyone who entertains the idea that a politician of any stripe should intervene in something so personal and private needs their head examined.

[Myshkin57]

03:57 PM on 10/16/2008

I actually think you and I agree. THAT is a legitimate debate to have. I just don't think misrepresenting what he said is the best way to argue with him.

[caterpol]

04:31 PM on 10/16/2008

I agree we agree :) No worries.

My greater point is that getting dragged into McCain's version of the issue is folly. It doesn't MATTER what he meant, because he's making a specious strawman argument regardless.

The moment we start entertaining his idea that woman's health is being used an excuse for abortion, we're playing HIS political game. He has no business pontificating on this (or threatening to legislate it) in the first place. He's not qualified and it's none of his bleeping business.

[luvronpaul]

04:44 PM on 10/16/2008

I agree with you 100%. Since when were politicians the doctors who are able to examine every woman's personal health?

[LynB]

03:51 PM on 10/16/2008

First, this poor girl is right. I have a friend who lived this same horror. She had to make a choice after being raped and her choice was to have the baby. That baby is now 20 years old, but thank goodness the choice was hers. Her son doesn't have to worry that he was forced upon her he rests solidly in the knowledge that she chose to keep him despite how he was conceived.

Second, I know McCain is an adoptive parent, but to all these other pro-lifer's, unless you're either fostering or have adopted a child, I don't want to hear anything you have to say. Your words are hollow unless you put your money where your mouth is. My husband and I are foster parents and we have an adopted son. We've seen first hand what kind of life unwanted children lead.

Finally, I'm surprised how upset everyone is about McCain's contempt for women. It's been very obvious to me for years that he feels women are second class eye candy citizens. Read the following article and you'll see, even Ronald Reagan, whom McCain loves to reference lost respect for him because of his treatment of his first wife. He'd better be glad his first wife is classy, otherwise, his campaign would have been over a long time ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

[beherenow54]

03:48 PM on 10/16/2008

I have ceased referring to anti-choice persons as "right-to-lifers." I call them as they are, and hope that others will start to do the same.

They are anti-choice. I am pro-choice.

[polaris12]

05:07 PM on 10/16/2008

More than that, they don't even believe, most of them, in the right to life. Right to life for many on the right wing, means only the right to be born. They'll gladly send 18 year olds off to be killed in their latest war, without a moments thought. And if the people being killed in that war happen to have brown skins - they have not the slightest concern for their "right to life." Where were the protests of these right to lifers, when innocent men, women, children and babies were being bombed to smithereens in Bush's war of conquest and occupation in Iraq? I bet the guy in the crowd who shouted out to "kill him" was a right to lifer. They are just hypocrites.

[rapillard]

09:31 PM on 10/16/2008

the Catholic Church is against abortion and the death penalty.
http://www.americancatholic.org/News/DeathPenalty/

[coyoteincorrales]

03:48 PM on 10/16/2008

He also mocked Obama favoring safe nuclear power -- "he wants safe nuclear power" -- as opposed to all of us glowing in the night?

[ylpatriot]

04:32 PM on 10/16/2008

he blinked.. was snorting gasping for breath ... madder than a wet hen... and has the facts wrong ..... Go Home McCain ... we dont need another hot head, knee jerk out of touch with todays world ... just go home .... your choice for VP shows you are so wrong about choices. by the way .....I am a woman, retired from Corp world and there is nothing that makes me identify with Palin ...... zip nada.... she is as scary as you are McCain

[peacegurl48]

03:44 PM on 10/16/2008

I think the air quotes demonstrated McCain's sarcastic disdain for the idea that something other than wanting to "get rid of baby" might be at play in a late term abortion. It was dismissive and in line with the anti-abortion stance.

Sarah Palin has emphatically stated (on video at one of the Gubernatorial debates) that if her own teenage daughter were raped or an incest victim "she" (i.e. Palin) would choose "life".

For me the "culture of life" should include All life not just the unborn.

[KathyinCT]

04:15 PM on 10/16/2008

Sorry, but 20 to 1 odds that if Palin's own narciscistic life were at stake, do you really think she'd choose anyone other than herself?

[luvronpaul]

04:47 PM on 10/16/2008

I think it is safe to say no, she chooses herself.

[llstudent]

05:07 PM on 10/16/2008

I could not have said it better myself. Right on.

[fedupwithrepublicans]

03:39 PM on 10/16/2008

John McCain only pretends that he has any respect for women - he just uses them as a stepping stone to his ambition! He is morally bankrupt!

[MsYellowDog]

03:35 PM on 10/16/2008

Exactly Right, Oh Great McCainasaurus, Supreme Arbiter of All Things Feminine! A woman's "health" is definitely a matter for your smirking and leering. All of us "women" (notice the quotes)would be happy to sacrifice our lives for your out-of-touch and partially insane ideas of "abortion rights." He and the rest of the Right-To-Lifers have held the floor on this issue politically for far too long.