Democratic National Convention puts abortion agenda on display

The Democratic National Convention last week clearly showcased the Democratic leadership’s pro-abortion extremism. National Right to Life President Carol Tobias noted, “Beginning with an unapologetically pro-abortion platform and ending with the nomination of the most pro-abortion president this country have ever seen, the 2012 Democratic National Convention was truly an abortion convention.” In a Washington Post blog, Jordan Sekulow, the executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), addressed a few of the speakers who participated in the convention.

In his Washington Post blog, Sekulow notes part of the 2012 Democratic National Platform: “Protecting a Woman’s Right to Choose: The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.” You can read the full 2012 Democratic National Platform here.

Various speakers at the DNC spoke of President Obama’s dedication to the abortion agenda. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said, “The good news is, we already have a president who’s on our side.” And according to Sekulow, Richards is right: President Obama clearly supports an organization that performs 40 percent of all reported abortions in the United States. LifeSiteNews reports that 51 percent of Planned Parenthood’s yearly income comes from abortion. President Obama unapologetically supports Planned Parenthood, saying in 2007 that “[o]n this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield.” You can read the prepared text for Richards’ speech here.

Jay Sekulow

Sekulow notes that NARAL Pro-Choice American’s Nancy Keenan said, “Women in American cannot trust Mitt Romney to protect our health. He would repeal Obamacare, taking away our access to better maternity and prenatal care, and the law’s near universal coverage of birth control. And we cannot trust Mitt Romney to respect our rights. He would overturn Roe v. Wade[.]” Sekulow notes that only the Supreme Court can overturn Roe v. Wade, not the president. In addition, the ACLJ executive director notes that even if Romney could get one new justice in the Supreme Court, it would not mean the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

As for Keenan’s comment that Romney would not respect women’s rights, Sekulow notes that due to the unconstitutional Health and Human Services mandate, “[w]hen it comes to the abortion industry, the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion poses no hurdle to their agenda. They have a president and a party fighting to get them everything they want.”

Another speaker, abortion activist Sandra Fluke, accused Paul Ryan, the GOP vice presidential candidate, of supporting a bill “that would allow pregnant women to die preventable deaths in our emergency rooms.” Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue/Pro-Life Nation has news for Fluke: “Women are already dying in our emergency rooms from botched abortions while President Obama looks the other way.” Newman notes the recent death of Tonya Reeves in July from a botched abortion in July, as well as other women who have died due to botched abortions.

“Fluke is trying to perpetuate the myth that pro-life legislation kills women,” Newman said, “when it is actually today’s abortionists that are all too often landing women on a slab in the morgue.”