As controversy over Barack Obama’s abortion positions heats up, so does the back-and-forth about his opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act when he was an Illinois state senator.
“What we are doing here is to create one more burden on a woman and I can’t support that.”
— Barack Obama, to an expert testifying to the Illinois Senate in support of the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
“Inserts language, which states that nothing in the bill shall be construed to affirm, deny, expand, or contract any legal status or right applicable to any member of the Homo sapien species at any point prior to being born alive as defined under this legislation.”
— Summary of committee action on the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in documents acquired by the National Right to Life Committee.
“I would have been completely in, fully in support of the federal bill that everybody supported – which was to say – that you should provide assistance to any infant that was born — even if it was as a consequence of an induced abortion. That was not the bill that was presented at the state level.”
— Barack Obama, speaking about the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in an interview Saturday with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“They have not been telling the truth. … And I hate to say that people are lying, but here’s a situation where folks are lying.”
— Barack Obama on those attacking him for his opposition to the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in an interview Saturday with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“Indeed, Mr. Obama appeared to misstate his position in the CBN interview on Saturday when he said the federal version he supported ‘was not the bill that was presented at the state level.’ His campaign yesterday acknowledged that he had voted against an identical bill in the state Senate, and a spokesman, Hari Sevugan, said the senator and other lawmakers had concerns that even as worded, the legislation could have undermined existing Illinois abortion law.”
— Russell Berman, reporting in the NY Sun about the Obama campaign’s reaction to his CBN interview.
“I don’t know whether he is lying or whether he forgot, but with his words, he is condemning himself. … He voted one way and then covered it up, and he has to explain that, not just to me, but to the American people.”
— Jill Stanek, a Chicago nurse and pro-life activist who was the main proponent of the national bill and testified in front of Obama about the Illinois version.
“We believe that he should come clean and admit that he has misrepresented his vote in the past on this Born Alive Infant Protection Act and that he should apologize to those that he has called liars.”
— Susan T. Muskett of the National Right to Life Committee.
