Know Your Obama Facts, Part 1: The Voting Records

After multiple conversations with Christian friends, I have decided to make available a slightly in-depth analysis of Obama’s stance on life-related issues, and particularly abortion. I’ve spoken at various venues on the stances of the candidates, and the questions I (and my husband) have received disturbingly show a lack of understanding of where the candidates stand on pro-life issues.

What you will see evidenced over the next few days:
--Obama has a 100% pro-choice voting record; McCain has a 100% pro-life voting record. In fact, Obama is the most pro-choice nominee in the history of our nation.
--Obama’s promised policies will wipe out legislation that has already been enacted for the protection of women, and will only serve to harm women.
--It is a farce that Obama wants to “reduce” abortion. He has, at every turn, stood against policies that have been proven to reduce abortion.
--He voted against a bill that would prevent infanticide—a bill even supported by Hilary Clinton.

This is a conglomeration of emails and conversations I’ve had with some of these individuals. Please feel free to forward it on to others. If you need to check my credibility, I am an attorney at the first national public interest law firm to focus on life-related issues (incorporated in 1972). If you want my name in order to further investigate my credibility—or if you would like the following in a Word document form—please email me at vulawalum@yahoo.com. (Since I have no idea who will be reading this, I didn’t include my name or location).

I am NOT writing on behalf of my organization. I am writing on behalf of my own interests—and on behalf of women and the unborn. I merely provide my background information to lend some credibility to my opinions. I hope this helps to dispel some myths about Obama.

The Voting Records
The best indicator of the “fruit” of a politician’s work is the way in which he or she votes. Here, the drastic differences between Obama and McCain are telling. According to NARAL (www.naral.org)-- one of the most militantly pro-choice organizations in the nation—Obama has a 100% pro-choice voting record. According to National Right to Life (www.nrlc.org), McCain has a 100% pro-life voting record.

But what does this mean? What do the candidates think about abortion-related issues?
Here are some examples:

--Obama supports the transportation of minors across state lines for abortions without parental knowledge. McCain opposes the transportation of minors across state lines without parental knowledge.

--Obama supports federal funding (meaning taxpayer funding) of abortion for any reason. McCain opposes federal funding of abortion (he supports the current law, which allows Medicaid funding only for rape/incest or to save the life of the mother).

--Obama has vowed to signed FOCA, legislation that will enshrine Roe v. Wade into American law. It will literally wipe out all regulations on abortions that the states have enacted (such as parental consent or notice stipulations, informed consent regulations that require a woman to receive info both about risks of abortion AND of childbirth). McCain opposes Roe and FOCA (by the way, a common misconception about Roe is that it only applies to the first trimester; but Roe and its companion case Doe v. Bolton together read that a woman can have an abortion at any time for any reasons up to birth).

--Obama supports the partial birth abortion procedure. That is the procedure where the woman's cervix is dangerously dilated, the baby is removed all the way to the head, and the head is stabbed and the brain sucked out. I read 1000s of pages of testimony during the trials, and physicians even admitted that sometimes they use their own fingers to pierce through the soft skulls of the babies. And Obama supports this. McCain voted to enact the federal ban that prohibits this heinous act at the federal level.

--Obama, on multiple occasions, prevented legislation from passing the IL Senate that would protect babies born alive after "failed" abortions. The third bill was completely identical to a federal bill that had just passed Congress WITH the support of Hilary Clinton and Ted Kennedy. McCain also voted to support the bill. (The bill was initiated because abortionists were delivering live babies and leaving them to die in hospital utility rooms, without medical care. There is congressional testimony on this point).

In other words, Obama is actually more pro-abortion than any candidate we've ever had. That includes the "typical" pro-choice Senators like Clinton and Kennedy. McCain, on the other hand, has a 100% pro-life voting record. In fact, the only area where his stance differs from the mainstream pro-life movement is on embryonic stem cell research. He supports funding of that research. However, he also supports funding of adult stem cell research (Obama does not, despite the fact that adult stem cells are currently treating over 70 diseases, and embryonic stem cells have yet to work in any human trials). Also, with certain recent breakthroughs, McCain has been open to discussing the embryonic stem cell issue and has indicated that he thinks the issue will soon be moot because of recent breakthroughs (and he very well might be right).

And then there is the judge situation. Obama has, in so many words, vowed to place justices on the court who will support Roe v. Wade and abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy. McCain, on the other hand, has vowed to place justices on the court who will interpret—rather than make—law.

Simply put: a vote for Obama is a vote against the unborn, as well as against women (see tomorrow's post).

The Democratic Platform is more pro-abortion than it ever has been in the past. The Republican Platform is more pro-life than it ever has been in the past, and even includes language discouraging embryonic stem cell research. The candidates will follow their respective party platforms in shaping U.S. policy.

Tomorrow: Know Your Obama Facts, Part 2: Women are Harmed by Obama's Stances