Clinton’s Abortion Word Choice Troubles Some
EmailABC News’ Jake Tapper reports: A linguistic gaffe by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has some abortion rights supporters chatting. In her statement about Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on an abortion procedure, Clinton used the term "partial birth abortion," the name abortion opponents have given to that procedure. Many abortion rights supporters are offended by the term.
"This decision marks a dramatic departure from four decades of Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman’s right to choose and recognized the importance of women’s health. Today’s decision blatantly defies the Court’s recent decision in 2000 striking down a state partial-birth abortion law because of its failure to provide an exception for the health of the mother," Clinton said in the statement.
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Well, the baby is partially born. How dare someone call it what it really is.
Posted by: Oliver | April 22, 2007, 10:15 pm 10:15 pm
What is the alternative and more pro-choice friendly wording for “partial-birth” abortion? I’ve only heard the “partial-birth” phrase.
Posted by: tyson | April 22, 2007, 10:52 pm 10:52 pm
I’ve posted a comment on Sen. Clinton’s website as well. I am shocked and appalled the mere thought of someone thinking that the baby is not partially born? What kind of animal is that? To think that it is okay to kill a child in someone’s stomach? Why don’t you just line up with the murderers who actually kid children outside of the mother’s stomach. I said that to say, I’ve seen the partial abortion dvd, and I believe that if everyone in america watched that dvd, they would no longer want to kill babies or vote for them to “have the right” to kill them. A baby is literally poked in the back of the head with a sharp object, whether it is scissors or knife before it is pulled out of the mother’s womb. The feet must be pulled out first and sometimes they’ve said, the feet get pulled off in the struggle. Stabbing an unborn child in the back of the head is cruel and is the same as grabbing a child that is born and stabbing he/she in the back of the head. I would love to provide footage of this. It was provided by a former nurse who actually worked along side an abortion doctor. Sen. Clinton is not at all who I thought she was and neither is barak obama, I am concerned as to how our nation is going to turn out because of the clowns we have on ballot. Her choice of words could actually cause her to lose this race and she needs to think before she speaks. I say to her, watch some abortion footage before you make comments that you nothing about. Don’t make comments because you want votes. Make comments because it is something very near and dear to your heart. The ban is something that I definitely support, I’m glad to see that we are still holding on to some of our traditional values. Thank you.
Posted by: tracey | April 23, 2007, 8:58 am 8:58 am
tyson: The medical term is “dilation and extraction”, which is sometimes shortened to just “d&e”.
Posted by: benhocking | April 23, 2007, 10:49 am 10:49 am
The abortion rights groups of course can’t have any words used, no matter how truthful the words are, that would make them look badly.
Posted by: sam | April 23, 2007, 10:50 am 10:50 am
Tyson:
The medical term for what was banned in 2000 is “intact dilation and extration” (or intact D&E).
Posted by: Alicia | April 23, 2007, 11:24 am 11:24 am
Hard to understand under what circumstance a baby need be partially delivered and then killed for the health of the mother.
Posted by: Liz | April 23, 2007, 12:16 pm 12:16 pm
late-term abortion
Posted by: kp | April 23, 2007, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
“partial birth abortion” is NOT a medical term – it is a made up term. that’s why we don’t use it – it doesn’t actually MEAN anything in terms of medicine. It is a political term only. Let’s keep politics out of healthcare!
Posted by: seriously? | April 23, 2007, 2:31 pm 2:31 pm
I agree with seriously? It’s political spin with political motive. I agree with Sam, it’s a choice. We all have to live by OUR OWN decisions.
Posted by: RM1 | April 23, 2007, 5:53 pm 5:53 pm
A baby is still a person without an identity to the world and it does have feelings even if you like it or not.
Posted by: Jaeden | April 23, 2007, 8:44 pm 8:44 pm
RM1, no, actually, some of us have to live, or in the case of the aborted child, have to die because of someone else’s choices.
Posted by: Truth talker | April 24, 2007, 12:17 pm 12:17 pm
People may not support abortion but those people have no right to tell someone else what it is that they and their doctors decide as the best medical decision is wrong and immoral.
Posted by: Ryan | April 24, 2007, 12:40 pm 12:40 pm
Most of these late-term abortions are performed because something is seriously wrong with the baby; it may have no chance of surviving after it has been born. Plus, continuing a complicated pregnancy like this may be hazardous to both the mother-to-be AND the baby. And even then, it’s performed only if the parents in question make the decision to go through it.
No woman has a late-term abortion (or any other abortion) for the fun of it. It’s a hard decision to make, especially if the parents really wanted to have the child. They’re really happy and excited about having a baby, only to have their expectations crushed when they get news from their doctors (DOCTORS, not politicians) that something is seriously wrong with it. At this point, THEY make a decision about what to do. Most times, they will decide to have a baby. Other times, they will decide to abort.
I’m no big fan of late-term abortions (who is?), but this decision belongs to the people involved, NOT politicians!
Posted by: Veronica | April 25, 2007, 9:53 am 9:53 am
I think what’s crazy about all of this is that people seem to assume that you have to be either pro choice or pro life to have a point of view on this. I consider myself to be pretty neutral- to a point. I’m a woman, I wouldn’t want an abortion because it’s a decision you can never change, but I believe there are many times a woman may choose to get an abortion and I would never judge her. However, where do we, as human beings draw the line? Although I’ve heard many pro-rights comments about how sentimental the “other side” can be, it seems to be the pro choicers that are putting some kind of mystical spin on childbirth! Somehow, by magical means, a “fetus” becomes a “Baby”- when? When the head leaves the mother’s body? When the cord is cut? When it takes a breath? If you have ever held a preemie baby in your hands and thought, “Ohhhh, how sweet!” then you have to consider any late term abortion to be barbaric. And, I’m sorry, I feel the same way about those who are killed because there is some sort of defect, too. Any decision made at such a late date in pregnancy is purely selfish, and to me, unforgivable. Unless Hilary amends her statement,I can’t in good conscience vote for her. This is a disgusting practice and should NEVER be legal.
Posted by: middle ground | August 1, 2007, 9:48 pm 9:48 pm
Abortion of any kind is a damnable sin against God. You no more own the fetus growing inside your womb than you own yourself. God is the author of all life, He breathes life into each new creation at the moment of conception and infuses into the new living being an immortal soul. Any measure taken to stop the fetus from coming to term is murder, plain and simple. Partial-birth abortion is the most heinous atrocity committed; anyone who is involved in the act of aborting a fetus, from the mother to her doctor, to the nurses and to those who support it verbally. No one has the power to take a life in this way. The unborn children cry out to God and He hears their cries for life. Most assuredly God is outraged over every abortion.
Posted by: ken convalle | September 19, 2007, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm