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Tapes Reveal Nixon’s View of Abortion
New York Times ^ | June 23, 2009 | Charlie Savage

Posted on 06/23/2009 5:41:29 PM PDT by reaganaut1

On Jan. 23, 1973, when the Supreme Court struck down state criminal abortion laws in Roe v. Wade, President Richard M. Nixon made no public statement. But privately, newly released tapes reveal, he expressed ambivalence.

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.

“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: abortion; miscegenation; moralabsolutes; nixon; nixonlibrary; presidents; rino
A unborn child should not be killed just because his parents are of different races. I'm disappointed that Nixon said this (assuming the Times is accurate).
1 posted on 06/23/2009 5:41:30 PM PDT by reaganaut1
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To: reaganaut1

See also http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277828/posts.


2 posted on 06/23/2009 5:42:32 PM PDT by sthguard (The problem isn't Islamic terrorists; it's terroristic Islam!)
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To: reaganaut1
That does seem out of character for Nixon.
3 posted on 06/23/2009 5:43:17 PM PDT by Perdogg (Sarah Palin-Jim DeMint 2012 - Liz Cheney for Sec of State - Duncan Hunter SecDef)
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To: reaganaut1
Given the timeframe it was quite obvious Nixon was prescient and was striving to avoid the plague Obama was going to bring down on our heads.

Remember, "Tricky Dick" wasn't called "Tricky" for nothing.

4 posted on 06/23/2009 5:43:48 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: reaganaut1

Well hell, he was a man who was in his 40s in 1960. Everyone had a different mentality about that kind of thing in that generation. You think there were a lot of blacks that would have been happy about a mixed race child then?


5 posted on 06/23/2009 5:47:25 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: reaganaut1

I notice they don’t do a lot of release of LBJ’s tapes and/or notes, he was about as bad of a racist as they come.


6 posted on 06/23/2009 5:49:59 PM PDT by mnehring
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To: reaganaut1

I don’t really care what Nixon’s view on abortion is. That it is detestable I’m not surprised but I’m sure that horrid view wasn’t uncommon during that time. I am much more offended though by the horrible way planned parenthood has targeted black and minority communities with abortion clinics. It is well known that some of the founders of planned parenthood held blacks in low regard. Aslo the outlook for poor women after having abortions does not generally improve rather published studies show that the opposite is true.


7 posted on 06/23/2009 5:55:33 PM PDT by Maelstorm (When you can no longer say no to the government's confisation of your wealth then you are not free.)
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To: reaganaut1

Continuing to prove that Nixon was an unprincipled jerk.


8 posted on 06/23/2009 6:00:33 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (It's the spending, stupid!)
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To: reaganaut1

That’s a mighty big assumption there (that the NYT is accurate).

If you consider it, Nixon was a prophet ... Obama would have been aborted. /sarc


9 posted on 06/23/2009 6:01:55 PM PDT by Jackson57
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To: Secret Agent Man

In trying to understand this, if it’s accurate, keep in mind Nixon spoke in short clips he didn’t always elaborate. Obviously he doesn’t mean forced abortion to get rid of mixed race kids. He’s talking about a woman who wants an abortion because she gets pregnant with a man of a different race and this will bring embarrassment to her, maybe if she’s married. If she’s single it’s a more racist comment I guess because he is assuming a white woman won’t want to have a black baby.

That’s about the best I can do with it. Also a lot of people aren’t old enough to realize that even in the 1960’s a mixed race couple was a shocking thing in most places. People don’t know that Muhammad Ali was one of the biggest opponents of mixed race marriage.

So in the context of the times, Nixon was referring to any “embarrassing” pregnancy.


10 posted on 06/23/2009 6:04:34 PM PDT by Williams (It's The Policies, Stupid.)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Why, because he was living in 1960’s America and not 2009 America? Where now white guilt is so bad that we HAVE to elect someone who is black.


11 posted on 06/23/2009 6:06:11 PM PDT by stevio (Crunchy Con - God, guns, guts, and organically grown crunchy nuts.)
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To: Williams

Well he’s right. Most white women don’t want to have a baby with a black guy. Look at the marriage stats.

That’s why I also said that back in his day particularly, the segregationist ideas ran high on both sides. Blacks were not overjoyed at mixed race kids either. Not many races were, they all thought it diluted their own race and that the kid wouldn’t be wanted by either of the parents’ ethnic groups.


12 posted on 06/23/2009 6:08:59 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: stevio
Where now white guilt is so bad that we HAVE to elect someone who is black.

So true!

13 posted on 06/23/2009 6:23:07 PM PDT by Krodg
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To: Uncle Miltie
Nixon was an unprincipled jerk.

Well...if he was, then he's at least one of the most interesting unprincipled jerks of the modern political age.

14 posted on 06/23/2009 6:41:54 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: Secret Agent Man

You think there are many of them who approve of that NOW?


15 posted on 06/23/2009 6:44:27 PM PDT by Boiling Pots (B. Hussein Obama: The final turd George W. Bush laid on America)
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To: Boiling Pots

I think the stigma has decreased a bit in some demographics. In others it may have in fact increased. Back in the 90s when I did some co-op work in DC, I had three black roommates and two went to ‘historically black’ colleges. Here I am, a white guy who was for the concept that people should be able to date or marry whoever they want, these guys are telling me they are for ‘separate but equal’. The blacks I was bunking with wanted segregation.

Nothing surprises me about race issues after that.


16 posted on 06/23/2009 8:25:12 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Generally speaking, people prefer their own “tribe.”

Of course, this sentiment is OK only for non-whites to hold.


17 posted on 06/23/2009 8:42:01 PM PDT by Boiling Pots (B. Hussein Obama: The final turd George W. Bush laid on America)
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To: Boiling Pots

I agree with you. Personally I totally understand it, I think this way pretty much too. It’s a generally natural thing to do. Like in a Captain Obvious kind of way.


18 posted on 06/23/2009 8:57:49 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: mnehring
"I notice they don’t do a lot of release of LBJ’s tapes and/or notes, he was about as bad of a racist as they come."

New LBJ tapes reveal an embattled president

08:02 AM CDT on Friday, May 2, 2008

By ROBERT GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News

rtgarret@dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050108dntexlbjtranscripts.b77d97a6.html

http://www.amazon.com/LBJ-Tapes-Johnson-White-House/dp/B0009GV9BO/ref=pd_sim_b_2

19 posted on 06/24/2009 3:25:42 AM PDT by Mila
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