Liberals have brought abortion to the forefront this election cycle, leveling numerous attacks on conservative candidates for their views on abortion. President Obama and other anti-life politicians believe criticizing the GOP’s stance on abortion will attract votes, but in truth it only serves to reveal their own hostility to life. The current “Romney/Ryan: Wrong For Women” campaign from Team Obama expresses horror over the presumptive Republican ticket’s opposition to “abortion rights.” According to the Obama campaign, abortion is a critical women’s health issue, and snobby conservative men who say otherwise are just plain offensive. In one recent ad, a woman chastises the GOP, “They are talking about things that [are] none of their business. They are going too far.”
The Obama camp’s strategy is to portray the pro-life views of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney and vice-presidential pick Paul Ryan as novel and extreme. But Romney and Ryan’s language this election cycle is nothing new. Despite liberals’ attacks on the Republican ticket for opposing Roe v. Wade and favoring a constitutional amendment protecting life, these measures coincide with longstanding party platforms. Penny Young Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) explained, “The sanctity of life is, indisputably, a central tenet of the Republican Party’s platform. Since 1976, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s devastating Roe v. Wade decision, the Republican National Committee has boldly defended the lives of precious unborn babies — regardless of the child’s race, gender, or special needs. From that time on, the party’s pro-life stance has not been a major point of dissention among Republicans.”
So what’s driving these relatively traditional values into the spotlight this election cycle? The increasingly pitched tenor over abortion can’t be attributed to a new referendum by conservatives; it’s the liberals who have changed their tune. The Obama Administration has made no secret of its radical support for abortion:
- President Obama bragged in a special message to Planned Parenthood that he was willing to shut down the federal government when the GOP threatened to stop taxpayer funds from going to the organization, the biggest abortion provider in America. In the same video, he pledged to continue supporting their goals “to protect … the choices American women deserve” (i.e., access to abortions) as long as he was president.
- Lauding the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in a statement earlier this year, Obama claimed that “we must remember that this Supreme Court decision not only protects a woman’s health and reproductive freedom, but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right.”
While Obama creates widespread controversy by dubbing abortion as a constitutional right — which he believes should be funded by taxpayers — conservatives continue to lobby on behalf of unborn children. No matter how many millions the Obama campaign spends trying to portray his opponents as off-base elitists, it is the president’s views on abortion that are extreme. His radical ideas are the ones that don’t jibe with the average American woman.