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OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF ROE V. WADE.
I am on assignment today for a print feature, so haven't had the chance I would have liked to blog about the 36th anniversary of Roe. But here is Obama's statement, pointedly sent to reporters late enough in the day so that coverage would not compete with news about Obama's national security orders.
On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose.While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.
On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere.
I expect that by next week, Obama will have overturned several of Bush's anti-choice executive orders, including the Global Gag Rule.
--Dana Goldstein
COMMENTS (17)
Global Gag Rule, so why not today? It's the swipe of a pen. Seems odd he wouldn't do it today, given the symbolism.
Posted by: masslib | January 22, 2009 4:37 PM
Why not today, indeed. Perhaps the correspondence from the Catholic Bishops pricked his conscience? A swipe of the pen would alienate further those who did not vote for President Obama and but who nonetheless continue to look for an opportunity to get on board. If he swipes the pen, there will be millions of voters whose collective thought will be, "He does not mean what he said at his inauguration." He stands to lose little from Planned Parenthood, much from those 200,000 freezing in DC today in the March for Life.
Posted by: Ellen | January 22, 2009 5:07 PM
Ah, well, it's certainly better to assent to the demands of a minority who opposed you instead of a majority who actually supported and elected you... Reaching out is good, but there *are* actually policy stances that got Obama elected, and this is one of them. Don't you think it would be somewhat stupid to throw out those promises that got him elected?
Posted by: Candia | January 22, 2009 7:12 PM
Candia, Most people had no idea what his stances were on policy so it wasn't necessarily prudent to wait until after today to begin his assault on the unborn. My vet clinic will have more oversight than abortion clinics will under the leadership of this man without a conscience.
Posted by: Amy | January 22, 2009 7:57 PM
Oy, people. Bring the international aid home. The UN will have to raise the money from them that has it, not from them that has already pledged Dana's last latte to Chinese parents' one child.
Or whatever. You know what I'm sayin'.
I see ...I see...RON PAUL in your futures.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 22, 2009 8:27 PM
Sigh.
Posted by: Candia | January 22, 2009 11:30 PM
Candia, Amy is correct. Most of this election was based on emotion, not informed understanding of the where Obama stood on the issues. So if he's confident that he has the approval of the public to sign away all restrictions on abortion, he should have stepped up and done it in the face of the pro-life crowd. It's foolishness to say he's going to remove all abortion restrictions and at the same time do everything he can to make abortions rare. We're not stupid - but that assertion certainly is!! It's the double speak he uses to placate. That's Obama's "claim to fame" - his smooth talk. And that's what got him elected.
Posted by: Allison | January 23, 2009 7:19 AM
Even more interesting, to me, the mindset that can have mercy on admitted terrorists responsible for 9/11-sleep deprivation-loud noises for days on end-and yet have no problem affirming the right to suck a beating heart through a vacuum house of an innocent unborn. WOW!
Posted by: PD | January 23, 2009 8:58 AM
VACUUM HOSE
Posted by: PD | January 23, 2009 9:02 AM
Where does one begin? The most rabid pro-abortion President ever to take the oath has already foisted his killing fields agenda upon not only this country, but now, with the help of our tax dollars, we'll be killing babies in other countries. We might as well call it the "Auschwitz Bailout Plan."
Posted by: Dave | January 23, 2009 12:06 PM
So there have been questions about the anti-abortion movement's next step -- apparently it's ranting on liberal blogs. LOL! Well, at least they can't do any harm here.
Posted by: Melanie | January 23, 2009 1:00 PM
Melanie:
It's sad that those in the pro-abortion/anti-life movement have become calloused to the point where they have no understanding of the basic medical and scientific information that clearly proves that life begins at conception. If your mother had aborted you at ANY stage of her pregnancy, you would not be here to add your thoughts to this discussion. That point is irrefutable! In a number of conversations that I've had with those who support a "woman's right," I find that their minds have glazed over when this type of truth is presented. It 'does not compute' with their worldview. Those who understand that life is sacred, including yours Melanie, will continue to work to persuade those who don't have this understanding.
Posted by: Dave | January 23, 2009 1:52 PM
Its all about the liberal left agenda, not about innocent, human beings. I am disgusted about the funding of abortions in other countries, I DON'T WANT THAT BLOOD ON MY HANDS.
Posted by: Kerri | January 23, 2009 6:58 PM
I am very dissapointed in President Obamas lack of insight. Since I believe he knows that Americans do not stand for abortion in most places.
Posted by: Fred Boettcher | January 25, 2009 3:10 AM
Yeah I'd much rather millions of women a year would kill them selves with at homes abortions because you believe in a fantasy religion in which Mary had a "Virgin Birth," Jesus "walked on water" and which after this fuckery of a life you will go to magical place in the sky with angels and doves and light and dance with God in "heaven." Abortions are going to happen whether or not you believe in them. So shall we kill "two" lives, or have safe measures and keep the government out of our health matters?
Posted by: You Morans | January 27, 2009 4:45 PM
President Obama has done his homework on this issue and knows that lack of access to abortion is a serious health threat for women. According to the Guttmacher Institute, one out of two pregnancies is unintended, and of those pregnancies unindended pregnancies, one in two will end in abortion. Women will do what they have to do to terminate a pregnancy if safe abortion is not available. 60,000-80,000 women die each year from unsafe abortion. I applaud Barack Obama for taking a stand for women's health with his comments on Roe day and actions overturning the Global Gag Rule.
Posted by: Angie | January 27, 2009 4:51 PM
To"You Morans" abortion kills, its murder whether you believe in God or not and facts show women whom had abortions suffer great emotional trauma. But God forgives and heals those horrific wounds. I know!
He loves you so much and wants you close to him
Posted by: KF | January 29, 2009 9:10 PM