Tornado Alley (PROG)

[F6]

G.O.P. Approves Strict Anti-abortion Language in Party Platform

By MICHAEL COOPER
August 21, 2012, 12:36 pm

5:35 p.m. | Updated Even as the Republican establishment continued to call [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/us/politics/republicans-decry-todd-akins-rape-remarks.html?pagewanted=all ] for Representative Todd Akin [ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/akin-asks-for-forgiveness-in-new-ad/ ] of Missouri to drop out of his Senate race because of his comments on rape and abortion, Republicans approved platform language on Tuesday calling for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion with no explicit exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

The anti-abortion plank, approved by the Republican platform committee Tuesday morning in Tampa, Fla., was similar to the planks Republicans have included in their recent party platforms, which also called for a constitutional ban on abortions. The full convention is set to vote on the party’s platform on Monday.

While Republican officials stressed that the plank did not go into granular details, saying that they were better left to the states, the language of the plank seems to leave little room for exceptions to the abortion ban. It states that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”

“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,” said the draft platform language approved Tuesday, which was first reported by CNN. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”

The timing of the approval of the Republican anti-abortion plank was awkward for Mitt Romney, who has denounced Mr. Akin’s comments about rape and abortion and who has said that he supports exceptions to allow abortions in cases of rape. And it comes as his selection of his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, was already drawing scrutiny [ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/us/politics/paul-ryans-views-on-abortion-guns-and-same-sex-marriage-come-to-forefront.html ] for his support for a more absolute ban on abortions, even in cases of rape or incest.

But Mr. Romney would hardly be the first Republican nominee at odds with his party’s more absolute opposition to abortion. Just four years ago, the Republican Party adopted a platform with a similar plank seeking an unconditional ban on abortion, even though its nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, had urged the party in the past to allow certain exceptions. George W. Bush also supported outlawing abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the pregnant woman was in danger.

After this year’s abortion plank language was approved with little debate, the chairman of the platform committee, Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, praised the committee for “affirming our respect for human life” and for doing so expeditiously.

The Republican platform committee waded into the abortion debate again later on Tuesday when it approved language opposing drugs like RU-486, which can terminate pregnancies. “We oppose approval of these drugs and similar drugs that terminate innocent human life after conception,” said Mary Summa, a delegate form North Carolina, who introduced a plank calling on the Food and Drug Administration not to approve such drugs.

A member of the committee from Alabama, Jackie Curtiss, sought clarification that the amendment would not apply to so-called “morning-after” pills, which prevent conception. “In light of the recent comments by Congressman Todd Akin, and in an attempt to reaffirm to the American people the party’s sensitivity on the subject of rape, I believe that we should not support an amendment which opposes approval of a method that’s been proven effective in preventing the pregnancy of rape victims,” she said.

Given assurance that it did not refer to such morning-after pills, the amendment passed.

The party also approved a plank supporting abstinence-only education, as it has in the past. (The current platform, from 2008, says, “We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and expected standard of behavior.”)

© 2012 The New York Times Company

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/g-o-p-approves-strict-anti-abortion-language-in-party-platform/ [with comments]


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State abortion rights battles draw national attention via Romney ticket

The Rachel Maddow Show
August 21, 2012

Cristen Hemmins, who organized opposition to Mississippi's personhood amendment in 2011, talks with Rachel Maddow about the extent to which extreme anti-abortion positions have been embraced by mainstream Republican leadership and how questions about national candidates like Paul Ryan are making the whole country aware of a fight previous only fought within certain states.

© 2012 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/48746354#48746354 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/21/13404522-links-for-the-821-trms (with comments)]


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Customized vaginal probes for 'Governor Ultrasound'

The Rachel Maddow Show
August 21, 2012

Rachel Maddow looks back at some viewer-submitted photoshop illustrations to commemorate Virginia Governor Bob "Ultrasound" McDonnell's mandated transvaginal ultrasound legislation.

© 2012 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/48746364#48746364 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/21/13404522-links-for-the-821-trms (with comments)] [the above YouTube of the segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rYjFH7aqiE ]


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McDonnell, too extreme for VP, brings anti-abortion agenda to GOP platform

The Rachel Maddow Show
August 21, 2012

Rachel Maddow lists the declarations and legislative efforts that paint Virginia Governor Bob "Ultrasound" McDonnell as holding a no-exceptions anti-abortion position - a position he has now overseen being written into the Republican Party platform.

© 2012 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/48746377#48746377 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/21/13404522-links-for-the-821-trms (with comments)]


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Romney afraid party extremists could shut his whole thing down

The Rachel Maddow Show
August 21, 2012

Bob Herbert, distinguished senior fellow at Demos public policy advocacy center, talks with Rachel Maddow about the Romney campaign's desperate effort to distance itself from the extreme abortion positions being written into the Republican Party platform and supported by Mitt Romney's own running mate, Paul Ryan.

© 2012 NBCNews.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/48746469#48746469 [show links at http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/21/13404522-links-for-the-821-trms (with comments)]



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