White House Says Obama Comfortable With Sonia Sotomayor's Abortion Views

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a lengthy press conference late Thursday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded more than 40 questions about where Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor stands on the issue of abortion.

Gibbs reiterated that President Barack Obama did not ask Sotomayor directly about her abortion views but talked enough about legal theory with her that he fells comfortable with her abortion stance.

"In their discussions they talked about the theory of constitutional interpretation, generally including her views on unenumerated rights and the Constitution and the theory of settled law," he said. "He left very comfortable with her interpretation of the Constitution being similar to that of his, though the bulk of the conversation was about her approach to judging."

Gibbs largely ducked questions about Sotomayor's abortion views or her position on a so-called "right to privacy" that has been used to validate abortion. He retreated to his boilerplate language saying that Obama and Sotomayor have essentially the same outlook on the Constitution.

"He felt comfortable that they shared a philosophy on that interpretation ... [of] the living document of the Constitution of the United States of America," he added.

With Obama taking a clear pro-abortion view that a "right" to abortion is somehow found in the Constitution, that should send a signal to the pro-life movement that Sotomayor is prepared to vote to uphold Roe v. Wade if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

After reported spent several minutes trying to get Gibbs to give up more of an answer, one reported asked the White House official, "Is the President at all concerned that she could be part of a 5-4 majority overturning Roe v. Wade?"

"I haven't talked to him about that," Gibbs replied, and added that he was not aware of Sotomayor having volunteer her position on abortion and Roe to Obama during their pre-nomination interview.

Earlier in the week, Gibbs told reporters that Obama did not ask Sotomayor about abortion during her pre-nomination interview.

"The president doesn't have a litmus test and that question was not one that he posed to her,” he said.

Despite Gibbs' comments, pro-life advocates viewed Obama as having a clear litmus test on Supreme Court appointments.

During a November, 2007 debate with Democratic primary candidates, Obama confirmed he would only back pro-abortion Supreme Court picks. http://www.lifenews.com/nat3470.html

"I would not appoint somebody who doesn't believe in the right to privacy," he said.

“If he is comfortable, I am uncomfortable.”

FYI

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America ‘ crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

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