Posted on 07/22/2004 5:16:55 PM PDT by madprof98
July 22, 2004 — Sen. John Kerry sat down for a wide-ranging interview with ABC News anchor Peter Jennings in Detroit today.
The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate discussed his views on abortion, sex and violence in the entertainment industry, and his upcoming acceptance speech at Democratic National Convention. The following are excerpts from the interview.
Peter Jennings: You told an Iowa newspaper recently that life begins at conception. What makes you think that?
Sen. Kerry: My personal belief about what happens in the fertilization process is a human being is first formed and created, and that's when life begins. Something begins to happen. There's a transformation. There's an evolution. Within weeks, you look and see the development of it, but that's not a person yet, and it's certainly not what somebody, in my judgment, ought to have the government of the United States intervening in.
Roe v. Wade has made it very clear what our standard is with respect to viability, what our standard is with respect to rights. I believe in the right to choose, not the government choosing, but an individual, and I defend that.
Jennings: Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say "life begins at conception"?
Kerry: Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard.
Jennings: If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?
Kerry: No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins.
Is it at the point where I would say that you apply those penalties? The answer is, no, and I believe in choice. I believe in the right to choose, and the government should not involve itself in that choice, beyond where it has in the context of Roe v. Wade.
Jennings: Can you imagine yourself ever campaigning against abortion?
Kerry: Well, I don't think — let me tell you very clearly that being pro-choice is not pro-abortion. And I have very strong feelings that we should talk about abortion in a very realistic way in this country. It is a very complicated, incredibly important moral issue that people have to face, also. And if you talk to any woman, as I have, who has faced that choice or who's been raped or who's suffered incest or who's faced that kind of choice, there are huge moral implications.
I think leadership needs to honor that, those moral implications, appropriately, and I think we need to adhere to the standard that Bill Clinton, in fact, so adeptly framed, that abortion should be rare, but legal and safe. And that's the standard that I apply. But I think we should talk more about alternatives to abortion.
Jennings: If I were really skeptical, Senator, I would say that when you use the phrase "life begins at conception," you're attempting to speak to those people for whom that is a slogan, making them totally opposed to abortion.
Kerry: Not in the least. It's a belief that is a belief of mine. It's consistent with everything I've always said over 35 years of public life. It is not a new statement, but it is consistent with my personal belief system about who chooses and what happens. I do believe we should talk about alternatives to abortion. I think we should talk about adoption. I think we should talk about, I think it is responsible to talk about abstinence, but I also believe you should talk about proper education of people — sex education.
You need to have proper knowledge about use of condoms to avoid AIDS. You need to be smart about these things. So what we need to do is have an honest dialogue and not succumb to the cynicism that sort of reduces these things to simplicity. It's not simple. It's a very complicated, highly emotional, very searing decision. I don't want the government making that decision for people, and that is a bedrock belief. But it doesn't change what I believe about how life goes on.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Wow, this is so sad.
Kerry is a disgustingly immoral creature.
And Jennings represents a very, very low standard of honesty.
Oh. So now he's a comedian!
Good Grief .. trying to follow this man's thought process and the way he speaks is mind boggling
"It's life, its just not human life."
The return of the quibbler. Clinton redivivus!
And 60 years later, John Francois Kerry is still not a person yet.
It's the thought process of a political liberal and a whole lot of Americans think the way Kerry's thinks. They totally lack a moral compass and a principled understanding of the basic differences between right and wrong.
" No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past.
It's the beginning of life.
Does life begin?
Yes, it begins. "
Is this from The Onion ?
President Bush may mangle words on occasion, but, at least we know exactly what he is talking about.
I don't speak Kerryese so I have no idea when life begins for the personhood.
Is that Robin's brother or a ghetto dweller ?
End of discussion.
Life begins at conception, so even first tri-mester abortions ARE murder. If you are a victom of incest, rape, or anything else that is NO reason to kill someone else, EXPECIALLY YOUR OWN KID. Abortion is only ok if it is going to save the mothers life. I see absolutley NO moral complications with abortion IT IS MORALLY WRONG, and thats the bottom line. The only complication is that its been a PRIVLEDGE (not a freedom, we are not free to kill) for women for a long time, and if you take that away people consider it as taking away their freedoms.
Look...if you are a victom of rape or incest or anything of that matter and you dont want the kid, adoption is your option.
It is frightening to think that we could have a president that is so bereft of a soul.
Further along, in discussing hollywood, JFK says that he thought Whoopie and friends went over the line and that he had previously said so. I don't recall him saying anything negative about that "concert."
Waffler
John Kerry adamantly denies that. He said to Dan Rather that he's never flip-flopped. Not once. Never.
This is more than sad or ridiculous. This is venturing into the danger zone.
Good grief, the man managed to take both sides of an issue within one session. That's the most amazing thing I've ever read.
Also, Kerry has a soul. Its rotten to the core.
The term "semantic parsing" may come back into vogue..
BIG TIME!!
If F'in is elected Prez (God help us all!)
Let's be clear, if he had the slightest trace of integrity he would long ago have either (a) converted to the pro-life side; (b) left the Catholic Church altogether; or (c) at the very least, stopped receiving Communion.
Instead, he blubbers on about how "life begins at conception" but "it's not a person" (what is it, nitwit, a rutabaga?) and how this "freedom of conscience" (what, the freedom to be a nitwit?) is allegedly promised to him in documents from "the Vatican II" signed by "Pope Pius XXIII".
And roughly 50% of Americans are okay with putting this moral nincompoop's finger on the nuclear button.
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