Posted on 10/20/2011 7:50:01 AM PDT by julieee
Cain: Government Shouldn't Make Decision on Abortion, Rape
Washington, DC -- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is raising eyebrows today of pro-life advocates and political pundits who thought he had previously taken a pro-life position on abortion.
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/10/20/cain-government-shouldnt-make-decision-on-abortion-rape/
(Excerpt) Read more at lifenews.com ...
Actually, listen to the question he was asked. It wasn't "should she carry the baby to term", the question was "should she raise the baby"
You then hear Cain objecting to the mixing of the question, then he answers it
I'm a Cain supporter, but I'll concede that he's tried to get a little "cute" in his interviews before, and he's made some gaffs then tried to back-pedal before, but I don't believe this is one of those times.
I think he was seriously believing that the interviewer had departed from the abortion issue and was now asking about the raising of the child.
Rookie mistake, and our boy has GOT to get better at this or these guys will eat him for lunch.
I didn’t get that out of it at all. I never heard the word “adoption” or the phrase “raising the child.”
What bothers me is that he doesn’t know the meaning of the word “pro-life.” Other people make this mistake too. They tell you they are “pro-life” and you are ready to hug them and then they say “but I think every woman has to make that choice for herself.”
Margaret Hoover’s book is full of that kind of gibberish. The rejoicing that occurred a couple of years ago when some poll recorded 51% saying they were “pro-life” is another example. Later polls showed a quite different number by asking a more specific question.
We are dumbing down the term “pro-life.” It means our laws should be pro-life, not just our own little opinion.
You guys are leaving off important context. Here’s the relevant portion from that article. Note that Morgan’s question was whether Cain would want HIS DAUGHTER TO KEEP A CHILD CONCEIVED THROUGH RAPE. That is the question Cain’s remarks are responding to, and it is MORGAN who says that whatever Cain says about his own daughter raising a child conceived through rape means that it is what he would legislate - to which Cain responds that he is NOT saying he would legislate that a woman has to KEEP her rape-conceived child (versus aborting the child) or that a woman HAS to sacrifice her own life for her conceived child.
Here is the relevant portion of the article, so everybody here can see the context even though many Freepers do not click to see the full article:
<<<<<<
“Whats your view of abortion?” Morgan asks Cain in the interview.
“I believe that life begins at conception and abortion under no circumstances. And here’s why,” Cain said before Morgan interrupted him and asked, “No circumstances?” to which the presidential candidate replied, “No circumstances.”
Morgan told Cain that that sets him apart from many other Republican candidates who are pro-life but also believe in exceptions such as rape or incest or the life of the mother. He continued by asking Cain if he would ant his daughter or granddaught5er, if raped, to keep the baby — which Cain said “was mixing two things.”
“It’s not the government’s role, or anybody else’s role to make that decision,” Cain responded. “Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidence, you’re not talking about that big a number. So what I’m saying is, it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. Not me as president. Not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family, and whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn’t have to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive issue.”
Morgan told Cain that his views on the question of abortion are important because he may very well become president someday and turn into public policy.
“Not they don’t,” Cain said of his views becoming law. “I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation. The government shouldn’t be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to a social decision that they need to make.”
He’s already said it in like 10 effing interviews. He meant that in cases of rape/incest.
Post 25 makes it pretty clear. The choice was whether to raise the baby or put him/her up for adoption.
They even edited out of the article that Cain was talking about raising the child!
____________________________________________________________
From the article:
He continued by asking Cain if he would ant his daughter or granddaught5er, if raped, to keep the baby — which Cain said “was mixing two things.”
“It’s not the government’s role, or anybody else’s role to make that decision,” Cain responded. “Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidence, you’re not talking about that big a number. So what I’m saying is, it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make.
Herman Cain is a Baptist Minister. What is wrong with you? What little there IS of it? How snide.
Thank you, Butter. Amidst the hysteria and misinformation, you consistently provide thoughtful, insightful analysis.
Those exceptions are concessions to political possibility, usually. The Hyde amendment allowed those two exceptions to get the amendment through, for example. I heard him say it in person from the balcony of the House in 2000, as he explained the discrepancy to a junior congressman. Hyde and most pro-lifers do not believe abortion is OK in cases of rape or incest.
Cain was asked whether his daughter or granddaughter should keep a child conceived through rape. The comments he made are in reference to that specific question.
Cain said directly that he doesn’t believe in abortion for any reason so Morgan framed the question as whether Cain’s daughter or granddaughter would KEEP the baby. That means the question Cain was asked was whether his family would choose adoption for the child, and ON THAT ISSUE he said it is the family’s choice. He said it would also be the family’s choice WHEN THE MOTHER’S LIFE IS ENDANGERED.
People are taking his response to those issues (The families should decide what to do in those complex cases of adoption v keeping the baby and whether or not to save the woman’s life or risk both mother and baby dying) - both of which are PRO-LIFE POSITIONS - and applying them as if they are pro-abortion issues.
We have to be really, really careful because there are people who are deliberately trying to misrepresent Cain. I think that may be what Cain is referring to when he says people are getting on his last nerve. Maybe not so much the candidates themselves, but the people representing opposing candidates are libeling Cain.
It makes my physically sick. Disgusting. If this is what we do, we’re as bad as the democrat liars.
What selective and deceptive editing. It’s clear that Cain is pro-life, but that he does not see it as a function of the federal government to make personal decisions for everyone.
Homicide is a State Crime, not a Federal Crime. It is only by tortured manipulation that the Federal Government has ever entered that arena.
By default, choices fall to the people and their states to define life and when it may be appropriate to end it.
Yep, it’s up to the local yokels not Central Planning to make those hard decisions.
You are absolutely correct, this was written as a hit piece to try and make it sound like Cain is pro choice, when he is not. Cain was talking about raising the child and not abortion when it comes to choice.
Read the transcript again and pay close attention to Cain saying this is a rare event. He knows abortion is not rare but the choice to keep a baby conceived in rape is.
"No, it comes down to is, it’s not the government’s role — or anybody else’s role — to make that decision. Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidents, you’re not talking about that big a number. So what I’m saying is, it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. Not me as president. Not some politician. Not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn’t try to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive decision.
No, they don’t. I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation. The government shouldn’t be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to a social decision that they need to make.
Sounds like Cain's position is similar to the position of many liberal Democrats and others who say --- I personally oppose abortion, but I have no right to tell a woman she can't have an abortion. That is THE pro-abortion position.
Convince me otherwise.
Read the transcript I posted above, if that doesn’t disabuse you of your erroneous position nothing will.
But when did government ever try to tell a woman whether to raise her child or put it up for adoption? Never! So that is not the issue, and couldn’t be what Cain was talking about when he said it shouldn’t be up to the government.
“most pro-lifers do not believe abortion is OK in cases of rape or incest.”
I agree with you. I also believe that most of the nation is more in line with the exceptions if Roe is to be overturned. Sometimes it’s a good thing to take 99% of what you were seeking.
I took it to mean the small number of cases where rape results in pregnancy.
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