Jill Stanek exposed the practice of infanticide in a Chicago hospital and the Illinois legislature crafted a bill that would protect babies who are born alive during an abortion. As an Illinois state legislator, Barack Obama spoke out against the measure that would have protected children in this situation. Ramesh Ponnuru explains:
Obama did not want the gap filled. He did not want pre-viable fetuses/infants to have any legal protection. In the Illinois legislature, he argued that providing them with legal protection would both be unconstitutional in itself -- a violation of the Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence -- and undermine the right to abortion.The man who now seeks the highest office had a clear chance to stand against the practice of murdering babies after birth. Instead, he opposed the effort to protect these children and then later denied it.Obama was wrong about these points. The Supreme Court's abortion jurisprudence treats the location of the young human organism, not its stage of development, as the key factor in whether it can be legally protected.
Here's the latest from Hannity and Colmes (HT: JillStanek):
Note that Obama supporters continue to assert that he could not have supported the legal right to commit infanticide because he is a "proud father" of former infants. Ponnuru notes that this makes "no logical sense". Those daughters are also, after all, former fetuses.
Update 1: Pro-abortion absolutists should be pleased with Obama. There has never been a presidential candidate more demonstrably committed to their deadly cause. - Terrence Jeffrey
Wow! The Washington Post now reports what Obama previously said was a lie:
As a committee chairman in the state Senate in 2003, Obama supported GOP efforts to add language to the act, copied from federal legislation, clarifying that it would have no legal impact on the availability of abortions. Obama then opposed the bill's final passage. Since then, he has said he would have backed the bill as it was written and approved almost unanimously the year before.HT: The Corner
Update 2: One of the most basic responsibilities of the government is to protect the innocent. As an Illinois state senator, what did Barack Obama do to stop the practice of infanticide in his state?
What a little fighter a baby born alive under these circumstances must be. This is what we've come to as a country-half of America loves Obama-very very sad.