PERRspectives: McCain Attack Boomerangs, Shows GOP Extremism on Abortion

October 16, 2008

McCain Attack Boomerangs, Shows GOP Extremism on Abortion

For the past two weeks, the McCain campaign and its allies have been waging an aggressive smear campaign designed to portray Barack Obama as out of the mainstream on the issue of abortion. But with his dripping condescension about the "health of the mother" in Wednesday's final presidential debate, John McCain turned the tables on himself. His adolescent "air quotes" not only confirmed his caustic disregard for the health and rights of American women. With his scorn, McCain also reminded voters about his extremist Republican Party platform that would ban abortions even in the cases of rape and incest.

During last night's debate, McCain went on the attack, mischaracterizing Obama's positions during his tenure as a state legislator in Illinois. But in his zealous regurgitation of discredited Republican talking points, McCain instead put himself in the line of fire. After Senator Obama proclaimed, "I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life," a sneering McCain mockingly produced a defining moment for both the campaign and the debate of women's reproductive rights:

"Just again, the example of the eloquence of Sen. Obama. He's [for] health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, 'health.'"

McCain's disdain for the "health of the mother" isn't merely an insult to millions of American women (and men, for that matter). Those four words constitute one of the fault lines in abortion cases this - and a future - Supreme Court will decide.

In the 2000 case of Stenberg v. Carhart, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling overturned a Nebraska state law banning so-called partial birth abortions. Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer:

Stated that the statute lacked the requisite exception "for the preservation of the...health of the mother." Citing Casey, Breyer determined that the state may promote but not endanger a woman's health when it regulates the methods of abortion.

But seven years later in Gonzales v. Carhart, the Court reversed itself in upholding a federal partial-birth abortion prohibition. With Sandra Day O'Connor replaced by Samuel Alito, the majority in 2007 undermined the health of the mother exception. In an condescending and paternalistic opinion foreshadowing McCain's debate disdain, Justice Anthony Kennedy derisively referred to physicians as "abortion doctors" and disregarded concerns for the health of American women.

In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminded Americans what they had just lost, "The health exception reaches only those cases where a woman's health is at risk." As Roger Evans, public policy director at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, put it:

"Where there is medical disagreement, the tie no longer goes to protecting women's health."

During Wednesday's debate, John McCain was very clear about his plans for the Supreme Court. The McCain appointees would not only overturn Roe v. Wade (a reversal from McCain's position in the 2000 campaign). His clear implication is that an even more staunchly conservative Court would dramatically curb the reproductive rights of American women for at least a generation.

But unspoken in last night's contest was any discussion of the truly draconian platform of the Republican Party. Essentially ignoring McCain's past statements that "my position has always been: exceptions of rape, incest and the life of the mother," the 2008 GOP platform instead endorsed the radical views of his running mate, Sarah Palin.

Unlike Barack Obama, who personally intervened to help create a new abortion plank in the Democratic platform, John McCain left the GOP committee to its own devices in producing a document that is far more draconian than even McCain's own radical anti-abortion stands. As predicted, McCain flip-flopped on his position in 2000 that the Republican platform should allow the abortion exemptions. His hands-off approach resulted in a hard line GOP abortion platform that not only did away with those most minimal of protections for women's health, but called for that total abortion ban to be enshrined in the United States Constitution:

"We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."

As the 2008 election heads into its final days, both campaigns are making a concerted push to reach swing voters. But with his obvious contempt for the health concerns of American women and the ultra hard-line Republican abortion platform to match, John McCain may have ensured many of those voters will swing away from him.

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