Abortion Rights

RNC Chairman Michael Steele recently acknowledged in a new GQ article that women have the right to choose an abortion (GASP!!) and some anti-choice extremists and fellow members of the Republican party are none too happy about it.  Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but women DO have the right to choose abortion, it is still legal in this country, Roe v. Wade still stands right?  Steele also said "We are a party that values life, born and unborn", sounds pretty anti-choice to me.  However pundits have called his acknowledgment of the law "straight out of Planned Parenthood's messaging playbook" others went so far as to say he has proclaimed himself pro-choice! 

When asked by GQ if he'd want to overturn Roe v. Wade Steele very clearly stated that it is a wrongly decided matter and should be turned to the states.   It doesn't get much clearer than that.  Yet Mike Huckabee still feels that Chairman Steele has abandoned the Republican party platform as well as basic human rights.  Seriously?  Did he read past "women have the right to choose" and then stop reading and give his quote?

I'm quite certain that the former Catholic seminarian will uphold the Republican platform, including any anti-choice sentiments that may be required of him.  However,  if he is going to enrage the religious right and Rush Limbaugh along the way while stating pure facts, this may be a little more fun than we originally thought.

Thirty-six years after Roe v. Wade became law and three days after becoming President of the United States, President Barack Obama did as I said he would in my blog last week and over turned one of the Bush Administration's worst policies, the global gag rule. 

The Global Gag Rule or the Mexico City Policy, which was reinstated by President Bush on his first day in office in 2001, mandates that no U.S. family planning assistance can be provided to foreign NGOs that use funding from any other source to provide abortions in cases other than a thrat to the woman's life, rape or incest; provide counseling and referral for abortion; or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country. 

The global gag rule has cancelled funding for many overseas health clinics - often the only health clinic for many indigent women in their area.  Releasing the funding will allowing women worldwide to have access to birth control and comprehensive healthcare they deserve and need.

Update 1:22 p.m. ET -- The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder drills down further on Palin's interview with Dobson. Seems Palin may be contradicting McCain's stated views on stem cell research, choice and gay marriage:

Dr. James Dobson today asked Gov. Sarah Palin about her private conversations with Sen. McCain about the Republican platform's planks on life and marriage.

"In your private conversations with Senator McCain is it your impression that he also strongly supports those views? I know that he did not oppose that platform when it was written. Do you think he will implement it?"

Good question. A lot of social conservatives worry about this.

Governor Palin responded: "I do, from the bottom of my heart. I am such a strong believer that McCain believes in those strong planks and we do have good conversations about some of the details too, about the different planks and what they represent."

The 2008 GOP platform is a bit more conservative than it was in 2004. If McCain is going to implement it - something of which Palin is convinced from the bottom of her heart - then that means that McCain will support a constitutional amendment to ban all abortion (including those cases where the mother was raped or was the victim of incest), a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and he will oppose government-sponsored embryonic stem cell research.

Either Palin trying to mislead Dobson, equivocate, or perhaps he doesn't know what her running mate believes. McCain opposes a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.... He supports embryonic stem cell research...he opposes a constitutional amendment banning all abortion. Read the platform for yourself:   On abortion... on gay marriage... on stem cells.. .

Maybe McCain changed his mind?

Alaska Gov. Palin seems to have tamped down some of her more extreme rhetoric as of late, but she still has to play to her base -- especially if she's looking ahead to 2012.

Campaigning in Colorado Springs earlier this week, Palin taped an interview with Dr. James Dobson, the immensley popular leader of "Focus on the Family," which is based there. His radio show has tens of millions of listeners. Read: conservative GOP base helpful in any Republican primary.

According to a report by CNN political producer Peter Hamby, Dobson asked Palin if she was concerned by polls that show U.S. Sen. Barack Obama pulling away from the GOP ticket:

“To me, it motivates us, makes us work that much harder,” she told the influential Christian leader, whose radio show reaches tens of millions of listeners daily. “And it also strengthens my faith because I know at the end of the day putting this in God’s hands, the right thing for America will be done, at the end of the day on Nov. 4.”

Dobson, who seemed supicious of U.S. Sen. John McCain's commitment to an anti-choice stance, also praised Palin's position on the issue. Palin said, indeed, she was "hardcore pro-life."

In closing, she thanked "prayer warriors" across the nation:

She also thanked her supporters — including Dobson, who said he and his wife were asking “for God’s intervention” on election day — for their prayers of support.

“It is that intercession that is so needed,” she said. “And so greatly appreciated. And I can feel it too, Dr. Dobson. I can feel the power of prayer, and that strength that is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation. And I so appreciate it.”

You can listen to the entire interview here.