For any remaining "undecided" women in Election 2008:

[seafan]

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., gestures as he responds to Sen. Barack Obama's stand on abortion during a presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2008.
(AP Photo/Photog)


Transcript here(PDF) or here:

MCCAIN: ..... Senator Obama, as a member of the Illinois State Senate, voted in the Judiciary Committee against a law that would provide immediate medical attention to a child born of a failed abortion. He voted against that.

And then, on the floor of the State Senate, as he did 130 times as a state senator, he voted present.

Then there was another bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the state of Illinois not that long ago, where he voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion, one of the late-term abortion, a really -- one of the bad procedures, a terrible. And then, on the floor of the Illinois State Senate, he voted present.

I don't know how you vote "present" on some of that. I don't know how you align yourself with the extreme aspect of the pro- abortion movement in America. And that's his record, and that's a matter of his record.

And he'll say it has something to do with Roe v. Wade, about the Illinois State Senate. It was clear-cut votes that Senator Obama voted, I think, in direct contradiction to the feelings and views of mainstream America.

SCHIEFFER: Response?

OBAMA: Yes, let me respond to this. If it sounds incredible that I would vote to withhold lifesaving treatment from an infant, that's because it's not true. The -- here are the facts.

There was a bill that was put forward before the Illinois Senate that said you have to provide lifesaving treatment and that would have helped to undermine Roe v. Wade. The fact is that there was already a law on the books in Illinois that required providing lifesaving treatment, which is why not only myself but pro-choice Republicans and Democrats voted against it.

And the Illinois Medical Society, the organization of doctors in Illinois, voted against it. Their Hippocratic Oath would have required them to provide care, and there was already a law in the books.

With respect to partial-birth abortion, I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception.

And I attempted, as many have in the past, of including that so that it is constitutional. And that was rejected, and that's why I voted present, because I'm willing to support a ban on late-term abortions as long as we have that exception.

The last point I want to make on the issue of abortion. This is an issue that -- look, it divides us. And in some ways, it may be difficult to -- to reconcile the two views.

But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, "We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby."

Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that's where we can find some common ground, because nobody's pro-abortion. I think it's always a tragic situation.

We should try to reduce these circumstances.

.....

MCCAIN: Just again, the example of the eloquence of Senator Obama. He's health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything.

That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health."

.....

As captured in the photograph, Mr. McCain's "air quotes" with his fingers as he uttered the word 'health' were abominable. This man has zero respect for women. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/01/mccain-asked-did-you-call_n_99744.html">Ask his wife.




Juan Cole in Salon:



AP Photo/Stephan Savoia

The GOP vice-presidential pick holds that abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest or severe birth defects, making an exception only if the life of the mother is in danger. She calls abortion an "atrocity" and pledges to reshape the judiciary to fight it. Ironically, Palin's views on the matter are to the right of those in the Muslim country of Tunisia, which allows abortion in the first trimester for a wide range of reasons. Classical Muslim jurisprudents differed among one another on the issue of abortion, but many permitted it before the "quickening" of the fetus, i.e. until the end of the fourth month. Contemporary Muslim fundamentalists, however, generally oppose abortion.

Palin's stance is even stricter than that of the Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2005, the legislature in Tehran attempted to amend the country's antiabortion statute to permit an abortion up to four months in case of a birth defect. The conservative clerical Guardianship Council, which functions as a sort of theocratic senate, however, rejected the change. Iran's law on abortion is therefore virtually identical to the one that Palin would like to see imposed on American women, and the rationale in both cases is the same, a literalist religious impulse that resists any compromise with the realities of biology and of women's lives. Saudi Arabia's restrictive law on abortion likewise disallows it in the case or rape or incest, or of fetal impairment, which is also Gov. Palin's position.

Any questions?

[FreeState]

1. Amen - this is the #1 reason for women to vote against McCain

if they are already not voting FOR Obama





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[livetohike]

2. Thank you for posting this

McCain can't even talk intelligently about this issue (as well as others). His attempt to demean Sen. Obama's eloquence makes what McCain said even worse.

I hope millions of women were watching last night...

[speedoo]

3. I only have one question:

How can anyone not believe this cretin is a misogynist?

[FVZA_Colonel]

4. This could make for one of the greatest ads of this campaign.

Simply run the footage of McCain dismissing women's health as nothing, then have a black screen with the words "really?" "Women's health is something Senator McCain thinks has been 'distorted?'" "That it isn't important?"

[glitch]

5. Most excellent post. K & R nt

[JoePhilly]

6. My wife came out of her chair on this one!!!!!!

First some background.

We've been married for almost 19 years, and have a 15 year old son, a 9 year old daughter, and a 6 year old daughter.

Our son was an emergency C-section ... the girls were both planned C-sections.

After our 3rd child (during actually) my wife had her tubes tied. So she'll never need to make a "choice" in the future.

But when McCain did the air quotes referring to a pregnant woman's health ... well ... he was lucky she was unable to reach out and touch him.

She might have ripped his balls off.

[DinahMoeHum]

7. I've always said - if you want a government by religion, move to Iran.

or to Saudi Arabia.

:evilfrown:

[FatDave]

8. There's a weird kind of emptiness in his eyes.

Beneath the meanness.