John McCain on NBC’s, Meet the Press, 1/30/00:
Mr. Russert: “A Constitutional Amendment to ban all abortions?”
McCain: “Yes Sir.”
Mr. Russert: “But, Senator, women across the country would say, prior to Roe v. Wade, hundreds of thousands of women a year went to back alleys to have abortions.”
McCain: “I understand that.”
Mr. Russert: “Many died.”
McCain: “I understand that.”

The video speaks for itself.

In only a matter of hours we’ll find out if McCain is going to come clean to the American public about his anti-choice record on birth control, Roe v. Wade, and a woman’s right to choose. But I’m not holding my breath, and would advise you not to either.

McCain won’t talk about his hypocritical opposition to birth control. He won’t talk about wanting to outlaw abortion or overturning Roe v. Wade. But he’s said it. And we have the video to prove it.

Donate now to stop McCain-Palin from winning the White House and endangering women’s lives.

As you read this, NARAL Pro-Choice America is in key battleground states -- including Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia -- getting the truth out about the McCain-Palin ticket.

Election Day is just 20 days away, and I have no doubt that we can make a difference, but only with your continued vigilance and ongoing support.

We cannot give up now.

Help NARAL Pro-Choice America stop McCain-Palin, elect pro-choice Barack Obama, and support our work at every level to protect a woman’s right to choose.

Sincerely,

Nancy Keenan

Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

John McCain: Openly Scoffing at Your Health

Posted by: Cara

I believe that I speak for many American women when I say in response to last night’s debate that I do not want Senator McCain’s brand of “compassion,” and I sure as hell do not want his kind of “help.” I do not need him to help me have the “courage” to let him make my choices for me about my body.

When it comes to an unplanned pregnancy, the kind of “compassion” I want is not a paternalistic pat on the head. I don’t want to be told how hard this is as if I don’t already know, only to have it explained that for that reason, the decision has been made for me. The kind of compassion I want is the ability to make the right choice for me regarding that pregnancy and any assistance needed to be empowered to make it. It’s the same kind of compassion that I want for each and every woman on this planet, and it’s the kind that McCain is not willing to provide.

I’m tired of the condescension. Do many women who would prefer to not have an abortion need to be provided with the tools and resources they need to feel as though they can carry a pregnancy to term? Yes, absolutely, I’ve said as much and it’s the Democratic platform that is supporting such policies.

But providing resources to carry to term does not solve the problems of every unintended pregnancy. A woman who does not want a child, who does not want a child with the particular man she became pregnant with or has even been raped, who does not want a child at her age no matter how much money she has, who is finished with her childbearing, or who is facing a mental or physical health issue is not “helped” by the McCain “compassion” which would eliminate their access to abortion. And in any case, McCain doesn’t support programs that would do the things he claims he wants to do; that kind of “redistribution of wealth” is for socialists.

If you think that I’m using a lot of scare quotes, rest assured that I’m not the only one. [Above] is the video from last night’s debate, of McCain talking about his “compassion,” and at the end of the video using scare quotes to talk about those radical pro-abortion people.(?)

Yes, you just watched John McCain put scare quotes around the word “health,” as in “health of the mother.”

Women’s health is so trivial to McCain that he can’t even force himself to spit out the word with a straight face. Considering the health of women when discussing the issue of abortion is ridiculous to Senator McCain, something he sees as the “extreme pro-abortion” position. And this should come as no surprise, after seeing this video by NARAL yesterday, which shows McCain stating his position that abortion should be illegal, and admitting his “understanding” that it would cause the deaths of many women.

I think it’s also extremely telling that in the above video clip from the debate, when Obama talks about making the option to carry to term a reality for more women, he talks about it in such a way that indicates he would like to provide resources to help her parent. McCain, on the other hand, explicitly discusses increased options for women considering abortion including not the ability to parent, but the “resources” to put the child they were forced to give birth to up for adoption to good, understanding “pro-life” people like him and Cindy. In fact, though he keeps using that word “help,” he doesn’t talk about helping women at all; he spends the entire time talking about the importance of their fetuses.

I sure as hell did not agree with every word that came out of Senator Obama’s mouth regarding abortion, but in the end what we got was the picture of a man who respects the health of women and their right to control their own bodies. What we got from Senator McCain was a clear picture of an extremist who disregards women’s autonomy and their very lives. And as a woman, yes, I do take that personally.

ELECTION '08

Debate Wrap-Up

...HEALTH CARE -- U.S. FALLS BEHIND OTHER INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS IN INFANT MORTALITY: According to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), infant mortality in the United States stalled "at the same level from 2000 through 2005 while other countries improved." The data "extends a worsening trend for the United States," as "the US ranking in infant mortality worsened to 29th worldwide, down from 27th in 2000 and 23rd in 1990." According to the CDC, "these years represent the first period of sustained lack of progress in the U.S. infant mortality rate since the 1950s." "This is really the first time that the U.S. infant mortality rate hasn't declined in a century. So we're quite concerned about this plateau," said the CDC's Marian MacDorman. In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 6.71 deaths per 1,000 live births in the United States. The CDC noted that the current rate "is about 50 percent higher than the national goal of 4.5 infant deaths per 1,000 births." The CDC also found that "the infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic black women was 2.4 times the rate for non-Hispanic white women."