Title: On Late-Term Abortion, 2020 Democrats Are to the Left Even of Obama in 2008
Headings: On Late-Term Abortion, 2020 Democrats Are to the Left Even of Obama in 2008
On Late-Term Abortion, 2020 Democrats Are to the Left Even of Obama in 2008
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Content: Now, I don’t think that “mental distress” qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions. When pro-choice activists pointed out that Obama’s comments were inconsistent with Roe v. Wade ’s companion case Doe v. Bolton, which declares late-term abortion must be legal for reasons of “mental” or “emotional” health, he backtracked slightly. Obama said the exception for late-term abortion could be “rigorously” limited only to cases where women had “ serious clinical mental-health diseases ” (a position that was still inconsistent with Doe v. Bolton ). Story continues
Maybe Obama’s comments were insincere: In 2003, he suggested that the government should not restrict late-term abortion at all. But his 2008 remarks were at the very least a concession to political reality, an indication of what he thought a Democratic candidate had to say to get elected. With such a huge field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, might one of them echo Obama’s 2008 comments, out of either genuine conviction or political self-interest? Maybe Tim Ryan, the Ohio congressman who said he was pro-life just a few years ago and worries that Democrats are out of touch with middle America?