MEDIA: What is your position on abortion?

CANDIDATE: I believe we absolutely must defend the rights of women and stop the common practice of dangerous and unwanted, coerced and even forced abortions, which are injuring hundreds of thousands of women every year.

We don't hear about it in the press, but our country is faced with a terrible epidemic of unwanted
abortions - cases where mothers would rather carry their pregnancies to term, but instead are coerced or pressured, and even forced, into abortion.

I oppose allowing abortion to be used as an escape route for unloving, irresponsible boyfriends, husbands, or those who abuse women. I oppose allowing parents to force their daughter into an unwanted abortion without regard for her own needs or desires. I oppose giving women inadequate and misleading information about abortion, which is another form of coercion. I oppose making women suffer the pain and aftereffects of abortion just so others won't be inconvenienced.

MEDIA: Would you support legislation that would limit a woman's right to have an abortion?

CANDIDATE: I support laws that would protect women from being pressured into unwanted abortions. I support laws that would make abortion clinics accountable for failing to protect the rights of women who are being coerced into unwanted abortions. I support laws that would hold abortion businesses accountable for making sure that women are given truthful and accurate information about fetal development, the risks of abortion, and the resources and support available to them.

If my opponent truly cares more about protecting women's interests than protecting abortion industry interests, I hope he will promise to work with me in seeking legislation to protect the rights of women who are facing unwanted, coerced and forced abortions.

MEDIA: Aren't your proposals really intended to make it more difficult for women to get abortions?

CANDIDATE: My proposals would simply codify the high professional standards which the Supreme Court itself has already described in Roe v. Wade and the other abortion cases. It is the obligation of the physician to ensure that a woman's choice to abort is fully free and that she is fully informed of all the risks and alternatives. Abortion providers should have a legal responsibility to protect their patients from coerced, unwanted, unnecessary, or dangerous abortions.

MEDIA: How would you propose to heal the divisions in our country over the abortion issue?
 

CANDIDATE: First, we need to protect the rights of women who are being pressured to abort or facing unwanted, coerced, or forced abortions. Women deserve accurate information, meaningful support and better alternatives. We need to acknowledge the pregnancy- and abortion-related injustices many women face. We also need to  
 

Second, I think all people of good will can agree that we need to do more to understand the impact of abortion, including the epidemic of coerced and unwanted abortions and the physical and psychological harm faced by women having abortions. In 1989, then Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, reported that there had not yet been enough adequate research on the aftereffects of abortion. Dr. Koop recommended a $100 million research project to study the effects of abortion.

What was the response from Congress? They ignored the Surgeon General's recommendation. Why? Abortion advocates argued against doing more research because they are afraid that more proof of abortion's risks would further increase abortionists' liability for the damages women suffer. At least one pro-choice researcher has pointed out that it is scandalous that such a commonly performed procedure is being carried out with little adequate research into the risks and the long-term effects. Women should not be treated as guinea pigs to protect the right to choose.

MEDIA: I don't understand what you mean by "unwanted" abortions. If a woman chooses to have an abortion, that's the choice she wants.
 

CANDIDATE: According to one survey of American women who had abortions, 64 percent reported that they felt pressured by others to abort. More than 80 percent said they did not receive adequate counseling and more than 50 percent said they felt rushed or uncertain about the decision.¹

Further, there are many stories of women and girls being threatened, badgered, pressured, and even literally dragged to abortion clinics by their partner or parents - like the teenage girl in Florida who was taken at gunpoint to an abortion clinic by her mother.² Homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women, and many news reports on these cases have indicated that the victims were killed for refusing to undergo an abortion.³ This hardly presents a picture of women who have freely "chosen" abortion or are decided about having an abortion.

Another example is found in China's national "one child" policy, where couples are brutally forced to undergo unwanted abortions. This points to another important difference between my opponent and myself. My opponent supports government funding for agencies which engage in forced abortions on unwilling women for the purpose of suppressing population growth in developing countries.
 

My opponent is closing his eyes to minority women in developing countries who are being forced into unwanted abortions. He's even willing to pay for it. Women deserve better.

MEDIA: What are your views on abortion in the case of rape or incest?
 

CANDIDATE: I support legislation that protects women's interests. Women who are victims of rape or incest deserve our support and the best medical care and counseling available. It doesn't benefit them to be rushed into abortion regardless of the risks. That would only risk victimizing them a second time.
 

I've read the testimonies of women who have had sexual-assault pregnancies and either carried to term or had abortions, and what these women are saying is a lot different than what most people assume.4 Most who had abortions reported that they often did not freely choose to abort and that abortion was not a good solution, while most who carried to term say it was the best decision for them. Further, abortion is often used by sexual predators to cover up their crimes. Young girls who become pregnant may be given an abortion with no questions asked and then returned to the abusive situation.

Before the government gets involved in the business of funding abortions for rape victims, I would like to invite women who have experienced a pregnancy resulting from sexual assault or abuse to testify about their experiences. The government shouldn't rush in and get involved on the basis of preconceptions or political agendas. Let's find out from the women who have really been there what is helpful and what is harmful.

MEDIA: Some abortion doctors say they won't be able to afford to do abortions if they face the kind of liability you're talking about. If women can't get abortions from doctors, won't that lead us back to the dangers of back-alley abortions?

CANDIDATE: Abortionists will only stop doing abortions if it turns out that abortion is far more dangerous than they have been telling us. Proper liability will lead to proper care and screening. This will help protect women.
 

It is ridiculous to suggest that in order to prevent illegal abortions, we should allow dangerous legal abortions. One of the main reasons the Supreme Court legalized abortion was so that medical doctors would protect women from having ill-informed, dangerous abortions. If doctors simply do abortions at the request of anyone who has the money, without regard to whether or not the dangers outweigh the benefits, that's no better than was done when abortion was illegal. In fact it's worse, because now women are being misled by these abortionists into believing that legalized abortion is safer than it really is.
 

Citations

1. VM Rue et. al., "Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women," Medical Science Monitor 10(10): SR5-16 (2004).

2. "Mother charged in forcing abortion, Said to threaten daughter with gun," Washington Times, Aug. 3, 2000; "Woman in Forced Abortion Case Gets No Jail Time," Associated Press, Jan. 6, 2001.

3. I.L. Horton and D. Cheng, "Enhanced Surveillance for Pregnancy-Associated Mortality-Maryland, 1993-1998," JAMA 285(11): 1455-1459 (2001); see also J. Mcfarlane et. al., "Abuse During Pregnancy and Femicide: Urgent Implications for Women's Health," Obstetrics & Gynecology 100: 27-36 (2002).

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