Nancy Frederick – 10/24/04

This page was last updated on October 24, 2004.

GOP using pro-lifers; Nancy Frederick; Beaver County Times; October 24, 2004.

This is the second anti-Bush letter from the Frederick household in the last four days.

In general, the letter uses the tactic of claiming President Bush doesn’t live up to his pro-life claim. Unfortunately for Ms. Frederick, this tactic is easily disproved. See my critique of the Todorich letter for the bulk of my response.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“George Bush will not try to pass laws making abortion illegal if re-elected.”

[RWC] Ms. Frederick, laws making abortions in general illegal have been struck down over and over again for the past 30 years. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled they are unconstitutional. Therefore, Congress and the President could pass anti-abortion laws until they were blue in the face and the Supreme Court would declare them unconstitutional.

The only way President Bush can have an impact on abortions in general is when he appoints judges who believe in strict interpretation of the Constitution. It’s these very nominees Senate Democrats filibuster because these nominees tend to believe the Constitution does not guarantee a “right” to abortion. Kerry, on the other hand, has stated he would not nominate a judge who might vote to overturn abortion. Given that the president for the next four years will likely get to nominate at least a couple Supreme Court justices, a vote for Kerry virtually guarantees the “right” to abortion for at least a couple of decades. A vote for President Bush gets us closer to the day abortion can be outlawed.

“If you do not believe me, visit his official re-election website. The pro-life agenda of making abortion illegal is not part of Bush’s platform. He has thrown the pro-life movement a bone in the form of the partial-birth abortion ban, but Bill Clinton also tried to pass a partial-birth abortion ban, with an exception for cases when the mother’s life was in dire risk.”

[RWC] The partial-birth abortion ban doesn’t allow for the life of the mother because expert testimony before Congress during the bill’s hearings indicated partial-birth abortion was never medically necessary. Therefore, allowing for the life of the mother was merely an attempt by the pro-abortion crowd to insert a loophole big enough to drive a truck through. Therefore, Clinton’s bill was merely for show.

“The Republicans are using the pro-life movement for votes and offering little in return. In the next presidential election, the pro-life movement should run its own candidates who are committed to the same cause.

“In this election, a vote for a president - who does not even attend church on Sundays - based solely on the issue of pro-life is a wasted vote, and pro-life activists should consider voting on other issues such as Social Security, health care and the economy.”

[RWC] I don’t know if President Bush attends church on Sunday. That said, I could see why he would not as President. Everywhere the President goes requires lots of security and the President’s presence tends to overshadow everything else and make attendance less convenient for everyone else. President and Mrs. Bush didn’t attend the graduation ceremonies of their daughters for this very reason. They didn’t want to take the focus off the graduates and inconvenience everyone else with increased security. My guess is President Bush doesn’t want to take anything away from a worship service.