As pro-choice advocates and abortion foes alike marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, Sarah Palin criticized President Obama for advocating gun control as a way to protect children while simultaneously supporting abortion rights.
In a post on her Facebook page, the former Alaska governor and one-time Republican vice presidential candidate charged Obama with "hypocrisy" for "boldly highlighting children" in anti-gun violence speeches while supporting an "abortion agenda."
"Using kids as the backdrop for his gun control speech, the President claimed his commitment to young ones," Palin wrote. "The hypocrisy of it all, however, is that while the President publicly acknowledges the value of “even one life” when it advances his own political agenda, he fails to acknowledge as much when it comes to protecting the lives of children soon to be born."
Palin continues: "See, his commitment to our children is selective. When children in the womb are on the chopping block, the President is silent. When he places the Second Amendment, however, on the chopping block, children are his focus. Never mind the fact that his latest proposals would not protect them from evildoers and would, in fact, leave responsible, law-abiding citizens less able to protect them as well ... Clearly, there is no shortage of hypocrisy coming out of Washington, and this is just one example."
The 1973 Supreme Court decision, which established a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, marked its 40th anniversary on Tuesday. While the ruling continues to draw ire from pro-life advocates, new poll data signals a shift in opinion about the landmark decision. According to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, a majority of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in most cases, while 70 percent believe the ruling should be upheld -- an all-time high approval rating in the poll's history.
Palin is not the first conservative to draw a link between gun control rhetoric and abortion in the weeks since the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School reawakened the national debate on gun violence.
Last week, radio host Rush Limbaugh agreed with a caller who questioned the renewed focus on gun policy while abortion remains legal.
"You know how to stop abortion?" Limbaugh said. "Require that each one occur with a gun."
Conservative pundit Erick Erickson took a similar line of attack against Obama last week.
"The President is surrounded by children, all of whom if born alive following abortion, he'd be okay with the doctor finishing the job," Erickson wrote in a tweet.
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