Kerry floats on abortion issue to win Catholic vote, says Catholic League

Washington D.C., Jul 25, 2004 / 22:00 pm

In a press release issued on Friday, Catholic League president William Donohue accused Senator John Kerry of floating on the abortion issue because he wants the Catholic vote.

Donohue made this comment in reference to Kerry’s recent television interview with ABC TV anchor Peter Jennings.

“Senator Kerry recently said he believes life begins at conception,” Donohue pointed out. “Accordingly, Peter Jennings asked, why isn’t ‘even a first-trimester abortion not murder?’

“Because it’s not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It’s the beginning of life,” Kerry replied.

Donohue compared the distinction Kerry made between human life and personhood with the 1857 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized slavery. In that ruling, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote that members of “the negro race” were “not regarded as a portion of the people or citizens of the Government.”

The judge concluded: “It is too plain for argument, that they have never been regarded as part of the people or citizens of the State.”

During the television interview, Kerry also said, “being pro-choice is not pro-abortion.” 

This “dichotomy,” says Donohue, “is equally troubling” and represents a “tortured logic on abortion.”

“Voters need to know exactly what it is about abortion that Kerry doesn’t like,” said Donohue. “In other words, why isn’t he pro-abortion? 

“Kerry wants the Catholic vote,” he said.

Donohue also made reference to an AP article, which states that most Massachusetts delegates are Catholics, who describe themselves as “non-practicing, lapsed, recovering and even unhappy.”