In my Wall Street Journal column last week, I mentioned that Sen. Obama has been trying to position himself more in line with center-right Americans and away from his record as the most liberal member of the Senate. One of the avenues through which Obama earned his title as most liberal Senator is his extreme stance on abortion. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted last month found that 71% of registered voters in America believe that there should be some restrictions on abortion – that is, abortion should not be legal in all cases.
However, Obama has said that the first thing he’ll do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a far left proposal that would supersede almost all restrictions on abortion. The Congressional Research Service Summary of the FOCA declares “that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to… terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability” or “terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.”
This begs the question, at what point is a fetus viable? When deciding Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court set the date of fetal viability as somewhere between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy. Based upon that definition, any regulation on abortion up to that point would be superseded by the FOCA, including parental notification laws.
Obama also supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, which has blocked most federal funding for abortion. If this amendment which has saved more than one million unborn children from abortion is repealed, it would ensure that taxpayer dollars go towards funding abortion through Medicaid and other federal programs.
Sen. Obama has worked hard to conceal his far-left views from the electorate. In two weeks, we’ll find out whether he’s succeeded.
