White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, in explaining the president’s opposition to a bill banning gender-based abortions, suggested that the bill sponsor had an “ideological” motivation.
Recommended Stories
“We oppose gender discrimination in all its forms — in all its forms — and we don’t selectively pursue legislation in order to achieve other ideological goals,” Carney told reporters today, apparently referring to the fact that the bill sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., is pro-life.
“This piece of legislation would have the hopefully unintended consequence of criminalizing a failure by a doctor,” Carney added, “if he or she were somehow to fail to intuit the motivations of a patient.”
Carney opted not to say how President Obama might pursue ending gender-based abortions.
“In 2007, the United States spearheaded a U.N. resolution to condemn sex-selective abortion worldwide,” Franks said in defense of his bill. “Yet, here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are the only advanced country left in the world that still doesn’t restrict sex-selective abortion in any way.”
