Thoughts on Palin

Ever a speedy wordsmith, Dave Andrusko, editor of our National Right to Life News is out with a two-part issue of Today’s News & Views, his daily commentary that’s emailed out to thousands of subscribers. 

Check out part 1 here: http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Aug08/nv082908.html.

The selection of pro-life Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a twenty on a scale of one to ten. The 44-year-old mother of five will accomplish what very few vice presidential selections have ever done: fundamentally change the dynamics of the contest for President.

Check out part 2 here: http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Aug08/nv082908Part2.html

Palin for Vice-President

The stage has now been set for the fall: McCain/Palin vs Obama Biden.  Here’s our press release today regarding McCain’s outstanding pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate:

NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE PRAISES PALIN
Solid pro-life ticket contrasts with pro-abortion ticket

 

Today the National Right to Life Committee praised John McCain’s pick of pro-life Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate.

 

“We’re thrilled,” said Karen Cross, National Right to Life Political Director. “Senator McCain has demonstrated his dedication to life in his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate.”

 

National Right to Life President Wanda Franz, Ph.D added, “Governor Palin brings another strong pro-life voice to the Republican ticket, in sharp contrast to the pro-abortion ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”

 

“We’ve both been very vocal about being pro-life,” Palin, a mother of five, said in an interview shortly after the birth of her youngest son Trig, who has Down Syndrome. “We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential.”

The differences between the McCain/Palin ticket and the Obama/Biden ticket are clear. While Senator McCain has a very strong record on the life issues, Barack Obama is the most pro-abortion candidate ever nominated by a major political party.

Senator Obama voted multiple times to deny care and protection to children born alive after abortion attempts. He is also co-sponser of an extreme bill, the so-called “Freedom of Choice Act,” that would make partial-birth abortion legal again and require taxpayer funding of abortions. For further information, go to www.nrlc.org.

 

“The country now has a clear choice,” added Darla St. Martin, Co-Executive Director of the National Right to Life Committee, “between an avowed pro-abortion ticket that would continue to push for unrestricted abortion on demand, and a strongly pro-life ticket that will bring us closer to a society that embraces the value and dignity of human life.”

Obama hit on born-alive claims by NRLC, McCain, Factcheck

Our Fed Leg Department just updated our White Paper on Barack Obama and the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act.  Here’s from their release today at noon:

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) today issued an expanded “white paper” regarding the growing controversy regarding the record of Barack Obama on the right to life of babies who are born alive during abortions.

 

The new document comes 17 days after NRLC’s release, on August 11, of newly uncovered documents that demonstrated that Obama had been mispresenting his record on the issue since 2004.  On August 16, when  asked specifically about the NRLC charges during a televised interview with CBN’s David Brody, Obama responded that “they have not been telling the truth” and “folks are lying.”  But in a report issued August 25, the independent organization FactCheck.org concluded:  “Obama’s claim is wrong. . . . The documents from the NRLC support the group’s claims that Obama is misrepresenting the contents of SB 1082.” 

 

The new NRLC document is titled, “Barack Obama’s Actions and Shifting Claims on the Protection of Born-Alive Aborted Infants — and What They Tell Us About His Thinking on Abortion.”  It is authored by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett.  The white paper (with links to pertinent documents) may be viewed in a web browser here, or downloaded in the PDF format here. 

The new white paper is a must-read for every pro-lifer.

-Derrick

It’s official

None of us are in Denver this week for the Democratic convention (for obvious reasons), but I’ve been glued to C-SPAN watching all of the coverage live (really I’m just waiting for the balloons and confetti..it’s fun television).

The Democratic Party has just officially nominated pro-abortion Illinois Senator Barack Obama as their nominee for President of the United States.   Obama is perhaps the most pro-abortion candidate ever nominated for President.

The folks in our Fed Leg Department has done a tremendous job of documenting Obama’s record on the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act in Illinois.  Check it out: http://www.nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA/Obamacoveruponbornalive.htm

And we’ve also put together a great comparison piece that factually outlines the positions of both Barack Obama and John McCain.  You can download it in PDF here: http://www.nrlc.org/Election2008/Comparison071408.pdf

-Derrick Jones
NRLC Communications Director

Minneapolis Update

Dear Friends of National Right to Life,

 

I’m writing to you from Minneapolis, Minnesota where the Republican Platform Committee is meeting on the Party’s 2008 platform.  The section on life has been approved and  I’m happy to report that this Republican Party platform is the strongest and most explicit stand supporting of life ever expressed by a major political party.

 

Darla St. Martin, NRLC’s Co-Executive Director and myself have been here lobbying platform committee members and providing support and input as the pro-life language in the platform was drafted and finalized.  It has been a great success.  This has been such a rewarding trip and it’s only just beginning.  Darla and I will be here next week when the GOP convention convenes to nominate pro-life Senator John McCain for president.

 

Meanwhile, over in Denver, the Democratic convention, earlier this week, adopted an even more extreme pro-abortion platform.  In it, the platform states that the Democratic Party “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade…and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.”  Gone are former references of the Democratic Party’s desire to see abortion as “rare.”

 

So pro-abortion is the party’s platform, that the Democratic Party felt a need to go out of its way to state that the party “also strongly supports a woman’s decision to have a child….”

 

Tonight, they formally nominate pro-abortion Barack Obama and pro-abortion Joe Biden as their candidates for president and vice-president.

 

We’ll keep you posted from Minneapolis as things get underway next week.

 

For Life,

Karen Cross

NRLC Political Director

The Platforms

Here’s the Republican platform language on life as approved by the Platform Committee today:

Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.  We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.  We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it.  We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.

 

We have made progress.  The Supreme Court has upheld prohibitions against the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion.  States are now permitted to extend health-care coverage to children before birth.  And the Born Alive Infants Protection Act has become law; this law ensures that infants who are born alive during an abortion receive all treatment and care that is provided to all newborn infants and are not neglected and left to die.  We must protect girls from exploitation and statutory rape through a parental notification requirement.  We all have a moral obligation to assist, not to penalize, women struggling with the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy.  At its core, abortion is a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life.  Women deserve better than abortion.  Every effort should be made to work with women considering abortion to enable and empower them to choose life.  We salute those who provide them alternatives, including pregnancy care centers, and we take pride in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives. 

 

Respect for life requires efforts to include persons with disabilities in education, employment, the justice system, and civic participation.  In keeping with that commitment, we oppose the non-consensual withholding of care or treatment from people with disabilities, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on the margins of society….

Here’s the Democratic platform language:

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.

 Gone are the Democratic Party’s desire to keeping abortion “rare.”

Upcoming

National Right to Life Political Director Karen Cross and Co-Executive Director Darla St. Martin are in Minneapolis this week for the GOP Platform Committee meeting.  Check back for updates soon!