Kansas Lawmakers will attempt to override Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto today of a measure that would compel abortion mills to report the reason for each abortion on viable babies past 22 weeks. Although most post-viability abortions are illegal in Kansas, Attorney General Phill Kline is investigating allegations related to illegal late-term abortions outside the exceptions allowed by Kansas law. The legislation vetoed by Sebelius would have made the abortion mills more accountable for their actions. [HT: Operation Rescue]
Sebelius’ media spokesperson, Nicole Corcoran, told the Topeka Capital-Journal, “She’s very clear about her personal beliefs as a Catholic and supports a woman’s right to privacy.”
Sebelius stated, “My Catholic faith teaches me that life is sacred. Personally, I believe abortion is wrong.”
Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director for Kansans for Life voiced shock at Sebelius’ statement. “Gov. Sebelius’ attempt in her veto explanation to portray herself as pro-life is outrageous. She cannot re- invent the term, no matter how carefully she chooses her words,” she said.
Sebelius' "pro-life" stance on abortion is one that parallels the double speak of many pro-abortion politicians, including former Presidential candidate John Kerry. The governor would have her constituents believe that, based upon her religious convictions, she is personally opposed to abortion but is not willing to impose her view on others. In his book, the Party of Death, Ramesh Ponnuru traces this political tactic back to Mario Cuomo, the astute three-term governor of New York who began the claim to be “personally opposed” in a 1984 speech at Notre Dame. This position has been often repeated by Democrats, especially since the American public has become wise to the radical pro-abortion position of the Democratic platform.
However, being “personally opposed” to abortion suffers from an obvious flaw which Ponnuru aptly points out :
The only defensible basis for judging abortion immoral – the conviction that it is usually the unjust taking of human life – also seemed to be a reason to enact a general legal prohibition on it. “Personally opposed” seemed to be nothing more that an incantation designed to keep incontrovertible premises from leading to inconvenient conclusions. Cuomo did not really solve this problem, but threw up numerous smokescreens to obscure it.The “smokescreens” have generally become obvious and Democrats would be wise to understand that no real pro-lifer disagrees with the goal of legal protection for the unborn.
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