Candidate Positions

 Original source: http://www.candidatepositions.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
Governor Tommy G. Thompson issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the ban on partial-birth abortion:

“I commend the United States Supreme Court for upholding the nation’s ban on partial-birth abortions. This decision sends a clear message that the United States values life and has no tolerance for this gruesome, abhorrent way to take a life. There is no place for partial-birth abortions in this country, and I am pleased the court upheld the law passed by Congress.”

 Original source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05320/606897.stm

Look we should not back off our position that a woman has a right to choose at some early point in her pregnancy. Everybody forgets what Roe v. Wade says. … A lot of the womens’ groups don’t really support Roe v. Wade when they say a women’s right to choose. That’s not what Roe v. Wade says. In the first three moths, it is primarily the women’s right; second three months, the state has an interest in the health of the woman; the third three months, the state has an interest in the health of the fetus.

And so I vote against partial birth abortion. I’m one of those guys, if you look at my voting record, the womens’ groups don’t like me and the right-to-lifers don’t like me.

Original source: http://www.ppaction.org/ppvotes/fab_sc_responses.html

Chicago, IL- Senator Barack Obama today made the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding abortion.

“I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme Court ruling, which dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women. As Justice Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman’s medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient. I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman’s right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to erode Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and a matter of equal rights for women.”

Original source: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/3/18/95048.shtml

I’ve said that I’ll uphold a woman’s right of choice, that I will fund abortion so that a poor woman is not deprived of a right that others can exercise, and that I would oppose going back to a day in which abortions were illegal.

Original source: http://www.brownback.com/s/Issues/tabid/60/Default.aspx#Life

Life is worthy of respect and protection from the moment of conception. I fear that our society has forgotten the value of human life. I believe every life has intrinsic meaning and purpose, and that the termination of life is taken too lightly in our country today. Abortion ends a human life. It destroys an individual who could have lived and participated in our society. Already, it has eliminated tens of millions of children. I believe we should strive to fully embrace a culture of life through our national politics. I will continue to fight to protect life at every stage. I hope that one day America will remember the value we once placed on human life.

Original source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to improve his standing with the party’s conservative voters, said Sunday the court decision that legalized abortion should be overturned.

“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned,” the Arizona senator told about 800 people in South Carolina, one of the early voting states.

Original source: http://clinton.senate.gov/~clinton/speeches/2005125A05.html

Thank you all very much for having me. I am so pleased to be here two days after the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that struck a blow for freedom and equality for women. Today Roe is in more jeopardy than ever, and I look forward to working with all of you as we fight to defend it in the coming years. I’m also pleased to be talking to people who are on the front lines of increasing women’s access to quality health care and reducing unwanted pregnancy — an issue we should be able to find common ground on with people on the other side of this debate.

We should all be able to agree that we want every child born in this country and around the world to be wanted, cherished, and loved. The best way to get there is do more to educate the public about reproductive health, about how to prevent unsafe and unwanted pregnancies.

My own views of family planning and reproductive rights are heavily influenced by my travels as First Lady. I saw firsthand the costs to women when the government controls their reproductive health decisions.

In pre-democratic Romania, they had a leader named Ceausescu, a Soviet style Communist dictator, who decided it was the duty of every Romanian woman to bear five children so they could build the Romanian State. So they eliminated birth control, they eliminated sex education, and they outlawed abortions.

Once a month, Romanian women were rounded up at their workplaces. They were taken to a government-controlled health clinic, told to disrobe while they were standing in line. They were then examined by a government doctor with a government secret police officer watching. And if they were pregnant, they were closely monitored to make sure you didn’t do anything to that pregnancy.