In 2008 there were some serious pro-life people who actually bought the kind of argument Charles Reid is once again selling. I’m confident that it won’t happen this time. Those were “messianic days” when grown men and women could talk themselves into believing that the election of Barack Obama would stop the rise of the oceans and cause the earth to heal. So why couldn’t such a figure somehow hypostatically unite the apparent opposites of “pro-life” and “pro-choice” in the person of himself? The argument sounded novel and interesting back then. It’s now stale and, increasingly, ridiculous. President Obama is by far the greatest friend the abortion lobby and the movement for legal abortion and its public funding ever had in the White House. If you don’t believe me, just ask them. He’s their man.
Obama fervently believes, and has consistently acted on the belief, that children in utero have no rights that others must respect. He opposes any meaningful legal protections for unborn babies. Under the regime of law he supports, they may be killed at any time for any reason; and he has vowed to make sure things stay that way. He has even opposed the prohibition of sex-selection abortions. For the full litany of the President’s offenses against sanctity of life principles, just visit the websites of major pro-life organizations such as the National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life, and the Susan B. Anthony List. Or, if you prefer, you can get the information from the websites of major pro-abortion groups, such as Planned Parenthood or NARAL. It doesn’t matter which side you go to for the info.
Obama and his supporters do not try to hide his abortion extremism. They celebrate and praise him for it. (They just don’t call it extremism. They call it support for “reproductive health.”) So the information is easily available to anyone who wants to have a look. As for Charles Reid’s argument, as I said, I doubt that it will move many votes Obama’s way this time. Serious pro-life people just aren’t buying it. They know an abortion advocate when they have seen one in action as the nation’s chief executive for four years.
What Reid is offering will be relevant on November 6, if at all, only in salving the consciences of folks on the left who will, in any case, vote for Obama despite his pro-abortion record. It gives them a story to tell themselves about how they are actually, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, living by their principles and defending unborn babies. That story is that Obama may be a 100 per cent “abortion rights” guy by the standards of Planned Parenthood and NARAL, but actually he’s “the pro-life candidate.”
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