Politics

Obama’s touts abortion rights, child safety to win women’s votes

Neil Munro White House Correspondent
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President Barack Obama lauded the 1973 Supreme Court decision that largely banned any curbs on early-term abortions, only six days after declaring the nation has an obligation to save each and every human life threatened by violence.

“We reaffirm [the Supreme Court’s] historic commitment to protect the health and reproductive freedom of women across this country … [and] we recommit ourselves to supporting women and families in the choices they make and redouble our efforts to promote safe and healthy communities,” he said in a statement Jan. 22.

Obama’s support for abortion clashes with his new effort to portray himself as the protector of kids from armed maniacs, following the horrific massacre of 20 kids in a Connecticut school by a local loner armed with at least two weapons, says Lila Rose, founder of the Live Action pro-life group.

“If you are going to talk about he preciousness of children killed by the violence in Sandy Hook school, we have to recognize preciousness of the child in the womb,” she said.

On Jan. 16, during a White House event in which Obama described his emerging campaign against “gun violence,” the president said the government must go to great lengths to save each human life.

“There is no law or set of laws that can prevent every senseless act of violence completely, no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy, every act of evil … [but] if there is even one life that can be saved, then we’ve got an obligation to try.”

He made a similar claim Jan. 14, saying in a press conference that “if there is a step we can take that will save even one child from what happened in Newtown, we should take that step.”

Obama’s gun-related language echoes conservatives’ 40-year protests against the Court’s decision to sideline legislatures.

“Roe is an assault on the very foundation of our country–the principle that life is the most fundamental of all human rights,” said a Jan. 22 statement by Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Our humanity is not defined by the atrocities that have been committed throughout history, but by the shining light of those who recognize injustice and refuse to be complicit through silence.”

“Today we remember the 55 million human beings who had the most basic right and freedom tragically stolen from them through abortion, the first right of all — the right to life,” said a Jan. 22 statement Rose, who founded Live Action.

“Without the right to life, there are no other rights,” she said.

Obama’s support for the Roe v. Wade decision — which made abortion legal by denying voters or legislators a right to set any significant curbs on doctors’ abortion-related practices — reflects the Democratic Party’s successful efforts to keep the support of single women, women professionals and feminists.

“Today and every day, my Administration continues our efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, and minimize the need for abortion … [and] we recommit ourselves to supporting women and families in the choices they make and redouble our efforts to promote safe and healthy communities,” said the White House’s Jan. 22 statement.

In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney won majority support among married women, but lost heavily among unmarried women, poor women and women with post-graduate degrees.

Obama is also trying to win women’s votes via his focus on “gun safety.”

Voters should confront legislators, he said Jan. 16, and “ask them what’s more important — doing whatever it takes to get an A grade from the gun lobby that funds their campaigns, or giving parents some peace of mind when they drop their child off for first grade?”

That language suggests that the president is using his opposition to guns and support for abortion to woo swing-voting, suburban mothers.

“The political maneuvering of the president [is intended] to win more more votes by playing off the fear of Americans,” said Rose. “Women deserve better,” she added.

Obama should be trying to protect humans before and after their birth, said Rose. “Logic and science tells us they’re both children … we should be protecting the child in the wombs just as when they are five, six or seven,“ she said.

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court has loosened its restrictions on legislators and voters.

For example, the 1994 court decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey allowed some curbs on late-term abortions.

The 1994 decision barred any regulation or legislation that puts “undue burden” on a woman’s ability to have an abortion. The “undue burden” was loosely defined by the court as “a state regulation [which] has the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.”

More than 13 states have curbs on late-term abortions, but the courts require exemptions for when a woman’s life is in danger, and in cases when the woman’s physical or mental health are deemed in danger.

The president’s focus on private health-care decisions also clashes with his support of the Obamacare law, which gives the federal government unprecedented power to shape each American’s medical care.

But today, Obama’s statement declared that the White House stands by Roe’s “guiding principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters, and women should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and their health care.”

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Jan 22 reported that only 31 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be legal under all circumstances. (RELATED: Most Americans support keeping abortion legal)

The poll also showed that 23 percent believe that it should be legal in most cases, and 35 percent believe it should be illegal with exceptions.

Nine percent believe it should be illegal without exceptions.

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