Palin blasts Obama for opposing legal protections for infant abortion survivors

Johnstown, Pa., Oct 14, 2008 / 04:15 am

Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, in a speech at a Saturday rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has attacked what she called Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s “extreme and troubling” stand on abortion. Palin argued that there are few issues more important than who is protected under law and insisted that everyone “belongs in the circle of protection.”

“As defenders of the culture of life, John McCain and I believe in the goodness and potential of every innocent life,” Gov. Palin began. “I believe the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves.  And who is more vulnerable, or more innocent, than a child?”

“Every innocent life matters,” she continued. “Everyone belongs in the circle of protection. Every child has something to contribute to the world, if we give them that chance. There are the world’s standards of perfection … and then there are God’s, and these are the final measure. Every child is beautiful before God, and dear to Him for their own sake.”

Palin recalled how she greeted the news that her youngest son Trig would have “special needs” before turning to an attack upon Sen. Obama.

“At first I was scared, and Todd and I had to ask for strength and understanding.  But I can tell you a few things I’ve learned already.  … As for our beautiful baby boy, for Todd and me, he is only more precious because he is vulnerable.  In some ways, I think we stand to learn more from him than he does from us.  When we hold Trig and care for him, we don’t feel scared anymore.  We feel blessed,” Palin said.

“It’s hard to think of many issues that could possibly be more important than who is protected in law and who isn’t – who is granted life and who is denied it.  So when our opponent, Senator Obama, speaks about questions of life, I listen very carefully.”

Palin attacked Obama’s remarks he made in a Johnstown appearance about not wanting his daughters “punished with a baby.”

“It’s about time we called him on it,” she said, charging that the Democratic presidential candidate is “vague and evasive” on the subject.

Palin argued that Obama has voted against bills to end partial-birth abortion, citing Democratic Sen. Patrick Moynihan’s description of the procedure as “too close to infanticide.”

She then noted Obama’s Illinois Senate votes against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA), charging:

“Barack Obama wouldn’t even stand up for the rights of infants born alive during an abortion. These infants – often babies with special needs – are simply left to die. “

She also stated that Obama had misrepresented his record on BAIPA.

“In short, Senator Obama is a politician who has long since left behind even the middle ground on the issue of life.  He has sided with those who won’t even protect a child born alive,” Palin asserted.

Noting that there are many concerns at issue in the election, Palin commented:

“It’s easy to forget even as deep and abiding a concern as the right to life.  And it seems our opponent hopes that you will forget.  Like so much else in his agenda, he hopes you won’t notice how radical his ideas and record are until it’s too late.”

She claimed that Obama would support “activist courts” that will “continue to smother the open and democratic debate we need on this issue, at both the state and federal level.”

Earlier that week, in a Thursday interview with radio show host Laura Ingraham, Palin called Obama’s position on the Illinois BAIPA “absolutely atrocious” and “appalling,” Cybercast News Service says.

“I wish I had more time to explain to people what Barack Obama’s position has been on this.  Because I think, Laura, it has been missing out there in the discussion, in the debate, about the choices that they have in candidates on November 4th.”

“I think that if more Americans could understand how absolutely extreme that position is, there would be a heck of a lot more outrage than we already see,” she continued.

Palin also attacked Obama’s BAIPA position while speaking at a town hall meeting in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Thursday.

“What I don't find compassionate is Barack Obama's vote, as an Illinois senator, when three times he had the chance to vote to be able to provide health care for a child who was born alive as a result of a botched abortion,” she said.