Democrats on Abortion: Only "Potential" for Life Begins at Conception

LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/14/08 | John Connolly

[wagglebee]

GRANTHAM, Pennsylvania, April 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both tried to downplay their positions on abortion at the Compassion Forum, a nationally televised event at Messiah College on April 13.

During the event, which was intended to provide the opportunity for candidates to discuss how their faith and moral convictions bear on their positions on important issues, both candidates were questioned on religion, evolution and abortion, among other things.

Obama chose conciliatory wording for his abortion stance. "The mistake pro-choice forces have sometimes made in the past, and this is a generalization...has been to not acknowledge the wrenching moral issues involved," he said. "And so the debate got so polarized that both sides tended to exaggerate the other side's positions. Most Americans, I think, recognize that what we want to do is avoid, or help people avoid, making this difficult choice. That nobody is pro-abortion - abortions are never a good thing."

Obama has tried to entice women voters away from Hillary through his strong stance on abortion, and promised last July that the first thing he would do as president would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, nullifying any state's law against abortion.

"This public statement shows how radical Senator Obama is on the subject of abortion and how out of step he is with the American public," said Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition. "For example, Senator Obama opposes a ban on Partial-Birth abortions. Every poll shows most Americans want that barbaric procedure overwhelmingly prohibited. Senator Obama, while an Illinois state senator, opposed legislation which would have prevented the killing of an infant that survived a late term abortion. He also recently said, while speculating on the issue if one his daughters became pregnant, that he would not 'want them punished with a baby.'

"Senator Obama's radical support of abortion and making it a top priority as President puts him in conflict with evangelicals and Catholics who support building a culture of life," continued Rev. Mahoney. "This issue becomes even more focused during the Presidential campaign season and on the eve of the Pope's visit to America. The Christian Defense Coalition intends to make Senator Obama's embracing of abortion a major topic on the campaign trail."

Hillary also tried to downplay her position on abortion and when life begins, admitting along the way that the stance of the Democratic party has been out of touch with religious voters.

"I believe the potential for life begins at conception," Clinton said. "For me, it is also not only about a potential life. It is about the other lives involved.…I have concluded, after great, you know, concern and searching my own mind and heart over many years…that individuals must be entrusted to make this profound decision, because the alternative would be such an intrusion of government authority that it would be very difficult to sustain in our kind of open society."

She also said she would "continue to do what I can to reduce the number of abortions."

Obama was unable to give a positive answer on his views about when life begins at the forum.

"This is something that I have not, I think, come to a firm resolution on," he said. "I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs?…What I know, as I've said before, is that there is something extraordinarily powerful about potential life and that that has a moral weight to it that we take into consideration when we're having these debates."

See Previous LifeSiteNews Coverage:

Obama Declares He Doesn't Want His Children "Punished with a Baby"
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/apr/08040105.html

Obama: "Biggest Mistake" Was Vote to Help Terri Schiavo
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08022805.html

"Philosopher of Abortion Movement" Says Obama A Better Choice than Hillary
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/feb/08021910.html

Clinton to Obama: You're not as Pro-Abortion as Me
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/08010702.html 

Biography Reveals Hillary Clinton Séance, Religious Devotion to Abortion
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/sep/07092405.html

[Das Outsider]

Obama IS the anti-Christ.

Jo, do you remember that discussion we had a while back about C.S. Lewis's "The Last Battle?"

Are you familiar with the book, Right Cal Gal?

[ryan71]

“They know in their hearts this is wrong.”

I agree and that’s what’s so sick about it. How can self proclaimed Christians not only look the other way but encourage abortion.

Some day, we will all have a lot of explaining to do but these people have the blood of thousands of lives on their hands.

[cpforlife.org]

Pro-Life PING

Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[moonman]

'She also said she would "continue to do what I can to reduce the number of abortions."'

Continue? Hillary, name one instance when you ever did anything to reduce the number of abortions in America other than you not having another child from Webster Hubbell?

[Das Outsider]

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both tried to downplay their positions on abortion at the Compassion Forum, a nationally televised event at Messiah College on April 13.

Huh...So Democrats are discussing the so-called right to kill the unborn, in a forum on compassion, in an institution--it couldn't have been a better choice--named Messiah College. Well I'll be.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I used to explain it thus t college audiences: whether you believe the human race began 6,000 years ago or 1.75 million years ago, geneticists are convinced that the human race all descends from a single ancestral couple. Human life began with that couple. It is transmitted to a new generation every time fertilization occurs.

[uglybiker]

Actually, there might be something to that.

You'll notice the average Democrat doesn't have a life....

[Mrs. Don-o]

My neighbor in DC used to say “Sure, I’m pro-choice. Choose before you screws.”

[Mrs. Don-o]

Speaking of Messiah: Picture this: Mary conceives in her womb, and then journeys "quickly" to the hill country of Galilee to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth. Elizabeth greets her: "And who am I, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

Who is "the Lord" in this picture? What is He? How big is He? Where is He?

[Arrowhead1952]

I dont think anyone can forget this thread posted by you.

Posted on 03/10/2006 5:07:34 PM PST by wagglebee

Abortion Survivor ... Rescued, Redeemed and Running the Good Race

[Das Outsider]

Who is "the Lord" in this picture? What is He? How big is He? Where is He?

Mary was with child (Matthew 1:18, KJV)--not potential child, not fetus. You're right in pointing out that size, location, and the like don't define personhood, but the Roe-Doe gang has a penchant for moving the goalposts on the issue--provided they address it at all.

Are you familiar with the pro-abortion rights arguments from theism/the Bible? Your series of questions really serve as a fairly good challenge to those who would refer to themselves both as Christians and pro-choice.

By any chance, have you read Francis Beckwith's "Politically Correct Death?" It's an older one--1992, I believe--but is as relevant today as it was then.

[Jo Nuvark]

Yes, this is the age of the deceiver and the great imposter as C. S. Lewis portrayed in Shifter from
“The Last Battle”.

[Das Outsider]

Yes, this is the age of the deceiver and the great imposter as C. S. Lewis portrayed in Shifter from “The Last Battle”.

Not to be a stickler, but you're thinking of Puzzle the donkey, an ignorant dupe of Shift the ape. Recall that the simple and trusting Puzzle was the false Aslan and Shift served as his handler.

I don't believe for a nanosecond that Obi-Wanna Snow Me is the Antichrist foretold in Scripture. An antichrist (lowercase)? I would consult St. John's letters, particularly 1 John 2:18, 22 and 4:3.

The very concept of a donkey clothed in a lion's skin posing as a false messiah at the behest of a self-interested and cynical puppetmaster just seems to fit the Obama candidacy--not that I'm attributing Lewis with any kind of gift of prophecy, mind you.

The coincidence, shall we say, is profoundly amusing.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm

[Mrs. Don-o]

The main pro-abortion argument I've heard from self-described Christians is that abortion comes under the category of our "stewardship" or ownership of the rest of Creation.

One pro-abort Presbyterian minister read me that great pro-life Psalm 139, which speaks of the unborn child being the work of the Lord's hands as He "knits the child together" in his mother's womb, and had the nerve to go on from there to argue that abortion is OK!

Why? Because Psalm 8:6 says " You made him [man] ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet." He took this to mean that God has put all of His creatures "under our feet" to use as we think best, including our children before birth.

I explained to him the basic Biblical distinction between humans and the rest of Creation (of human beings, only, was it said that we are created "in the image and likeness of God," and thus we have a dignity which is above that of a "thing") but he was closed to this distinction. Turns out he was an actual board member of the local Planned Parenthood.

I was appalled.

[Jo Nuvark]

I stand corrected ... again.

Perhaps I’ll just switch to listening mode for a
while. Commenting has resulted in foot in mouth.

OBI-WANNA SNOWME ... Good one!

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I thought the Dems position was that life begins with taxes.

[Das Outsider]

The main pro-abortion argument I've heard from self-described Christians is that abortion comes under the category of our "stewardship" or ownership of the rest of Creation.

Yes, that sounds like one of the more common arguments; that and appeals to a sort of libertarian sense of freedom with regard to "family planning." True Christ-centered family planning is a good thing; planning a child's executions does not fall under that rubric.

One pro-abort Presbyterian minister read me that great pro-life Psalm 139, which speaks of the unborn child being the work of the Lord's hands as He "knits the child together" in his mother's womb, and had the nerve to go on from there to argue that abortion is OK!

A PCUSA minister, I'm betting. That isn't to say all PCUSA Christians are under the same poisonous influence that many of the mainline Protestant denominations and leaders therein have succumbed to. Psalm 139 is a very pro-life psalm, and an elegant one at that.

Why? Because Psalm 8:6 says " You made him [man] ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet." He took this to mean that God has put all of His creatures "under our feet" to use as we think best, including our children before birth.

Why not after birth? Of course, then we would have to trod our way back to the issue of personhood, and I'm sure this man of the cloth was already in possession of a ten-foot pole. ;)

I explained to him the basic Biblical distinction between humans and the rest of Creation (of human beings, only, was it said that we are created "in the image and likeness of God," and thus we have a dignity which is above that of a "thing") but he was closed to this distinction. Turns out he was an actual board member of the local Planned Parenthood.

The minister cited the eighth Psalm, verse six, but strangely enough missed the preceding verse altogether:

You made him [man] a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

(Psalm 8:5, New International Version)

Unplanned Nonparenthood--what a surprise! What on Earth are they teaching at some of these seminaries? To my dismay, that was a rhetorical question.