ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Republicans rebuffed their certain nominee Monday by endorsing a platform that goes further than John McCain in opposition to abortion rights.
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(Photo: AP Images / Susan Walsh)The Texas delegation applauds during the opening session of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, Sept. 1, 2008.
Yet in a pair of back-to-back votes on the opening day of their national convention, the 2,400 delegates yielded to McCain's desire to keep New Hampshire's presidential primary first in the nation.
Republican National Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan used a quick gavel to adopt a platform unconditionally declaring the party's opposition to abortion. His resounding crack of the gavel overshadowed shouts of "no" when Duncan made a perfunctory call for objections.
The GOP document, which is nonbinding, does not provide exceptions allowing abortion in cases of rape, incest or where a mother's life would be in danger — all favored by McCain. The Arizona senator's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, opposes abortion in all cases, consistent with the platform.
The votes came the same day that Palin and her husband, Todd, revealed that their unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant. The couple said their daughter planned to marry the baby's father and keep the child.
During his 2000 campaign, McCain argued for loosening the convention platform to include abortion exceptions. That triggered a backlash among social conservatives, who reared up again in recent weeks amid word McCain might be considering a running mate favoring abortion rights.
In a May interview being published in the October issue of Glamour magazine, McCain reiterated his support for the exceptions.
"My position has always been: exceptions of rape, incest and the life of the mother," the senator said.
When asked if he would encourage the party to include them in the platform, he replied, "Yes," adding: "And by the way, I think that's the view of most people, that rape, incest, the life of the mother are issues that have to be considered."
In a subsequent July 30 interview with Glamour, McCain said he had "not gotten into the platform discussions."
During their meeting last week in Denver, Democrats dropped Clinton-era language saying abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." Democratic nominee Barack Obama said in his acceptance speech: "We may not agree on abortion but surely we can agree on reducing unwanted pregnancies in this country."
Moments before the platform vote, delegates voted overwhelmingly to ban states other than Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina from holding their 2012 primary or caucus votes before the first Tuesday in March. Those three states traditionally kick off the nominating process, but they were challenged this year by other states that moved up on the calendar.
Under the binding rule adopted Monday, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina cannot hold their own votes before the first Tuesday of February 2012. This year, Iowa held its caucuses on Jan. 3, and New Hampshire and South Carolina held their primaries on Jan. 8 and Jan. 19, respectively.
McCain largely skipped the Iowa caucuses during his 2000 and 2008 campaigns, but he won New Hampshire's primary during both of those campaigns. He cemented a political comeback this year by winning in South Carolina after suffering a bitter defeat to George W. Bush there in the 2000 primary.
The senator argued for preserving Iowa and New Hampshire's grassroots campaigns, a position cheered by their delegates.
"It pushes back the calendar and it slows it down — and that's a big gift for us," said Tom Rath, a New Hampshire delegate and member of the convention's Credentials Committee.
In another part of the platform focuse on immigration, the party calls for a border fence and English as the country's official language. On climate change, it acknowledges a human role in increased carbon emissions but advocates environmental policies that are "global in nature."
The plank on drilling highlights another split between McCain and Palin. While it declares the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge should not be put off-limits to drilling permanently, it did not call for immediate drilling there. McCain opposes drilling in the refuge, while Palin favors it.
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I am curious, how does Palin or McCain feel about birth control methods like pills, patches and shots? Has she ever used them herself or McCain's wife? Do they consider them to be wrong to use? "Most (virtually all) literature dealing with hormonal contraception ascribes a three-fold action to these agents. 1. inhibition of ovulation, 2. inhibition of sperm transport, and 3. production of a 'hostile endometrium', which presumably prevents or disrupts implantation of the developing baby if the first two mechanisms fail. The first two mechanisms are true contraception. The third proposed mechanism, IF it in fact occurs, would be abortifacient." Does life begin at conception for these candidates and how will that affect their support of continued access to birth control methods like pills, patches, shots and IUDs? This is something I've never heard them address.
When women abort their unborn children they suffer. I listed some of the effects of abortion on women below in my Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:53 pm post.
The fathers of the aborted fetuses also suffer. Here are some of the problems they experience:
wnd Article: "Post-abortion grief very real, experts say"
Excerpts take from http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74872
"The Reclaiming Fatherhood website lists numerous adverse psychological effects abortions can have on men, including: Rage or anger, impotence, feelings of helplessness, grave concern for a partner, inability to communicate, alcohol or drug abuse, risk-taking behaviors, suicide or suicidal ideation, grieving, obsessive thoughts about the lost child, nightmares, desire for another child, inability to sort out feelings, emotional or physical spousal abuse, difficulty with commitment and anxiety.
In a two-year study cited on the Reclaiming Fatherhood website, 142 men responded to an online survey about their personal abortion experiences. Forty-five percent said their partner chose to abort against their wishes. Sixty-six percent indicated their relationships failed after the abortion. When asked about incidents of post-abortion problems, 128 male respondents reported grief, sadness and persistent thoughts about the baby. More than 100 cited feelings of helplessness, relationship problems, anger, guilt, isolation, difficulty concentrating and anxiety." [end quote]
God does not hold guiltless those who murder their unborn children.
" I found them very similar to those I know who have left, not Christianity, but "bible believing" churches"
I am glad you put "Bible believing" in quotes. There are many 'churches' who do just as much damage to people as an abortion would. They are much like the people who brought the adulteress to Jesus. They do nothing but try to beat sinners and Jesus down to their level.
Star
I was interested to read your list of of emotional effects following abortion. I found them very similar to those I know who have left, not Christianity, but "bible believing" churches due to them not feeling that stream of Christanity has much to personally offer them. Thats odd isn't it? Of cousrse as they start to grow in the diffrent streams those emotions start to soften I have noticed this especially in those who move to a more Catholic/sacramental form of Christianity.
James Barr "Eascaping from Fundamentalism" is an excellent book on this subject.
Regards
Steve
blue1018 - How does aborting the fetus of young person who was made pregnant thru incest or rape cause her to have a better life if she experiences some or all of the symptoms listed in my Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:53 pm post?
Some of the Physical And Emotional Effects Of Abortion
Taken from: www.cirtl.org/endres96.htm
An prize winning essay detailing the many negative physical and emotional effects of abortion on the mother, by Alyssa Endres.
Abortion affects women physically, and emotionally.
Some of the Physical Effects:
1) Blood loss during the procedure causes diversion of blood flow to various organs and can result in shock.
2) When the canal of the cervix is dilated, the insides of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and the abdominal cavity are exposed to invasion by bacteria. Abdominal infection can cause peritonitis and abscess formation.
3) Severe hemorrhage often follows an abortion.
4) Instruments can perforate the uterus causing injury, infection, and bleeding to internal organs.
5) Deaths from abortions, although rare, are usually from heavy bleeding from complications with anesthesia.
6) Women who have abortions increase their risk of breast cancer by fifty percent, according to a new study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Abortion of a first pregnancy interrupts the natural growth process of the breast, leaving millions of cells at a high risk.
7) It has been found that future pregnancy failure is increased by forty-five percent with just one previous abortion.
8) Other complications are a greater risk of premature births, tubal pregnancy, sterility, and damage to the cervix.
Some of the Emotional Effects:
1) depression,
2) confusion,
3) hallucinations and psychotic thought processes,
4) long-term grief reactions,
5) anger,
6) sexual dysfunction,
7) guilt,
8) flashbacks,
9) memory repression,
10) suicidal ideas, and
11) difficulty keeping close relationships.
Post-abortion researcher David Reardon, who operates the Elliot Institute for Social Sciences Research in Springfield, Illinois, found that
1)twenty-eight percent of women who had abortions later attempted suicide, and over half of these women did so more than once.
2)Drug and alcohol abuse increased four times among women who aborted compared to those who carried to term.
3) Ninety-eight percent of women regretted having had an abortion. Seventy-two percent of women said their abortion did not improve their life.
4) Twenty percent of post-abortive women reported a nervous breakdown, and ten percent were hospitalized for psychiatric care.
5) Of the two hundred and sixty women surveyed, over sixty percent said their abortion made their life worse.
blue, you still haven't shown how an abortion will help a child or adult to better deal with the trauma of a rape or incest or is it that you can't?
blue1018 - Taking the life of an unborn child is murder no matter how it was conceived. No one who aborts an unborn child will escape the judgment of God.
Then if your position is clearly antiabortion in all cases, my question remains: I would like each and every staunch opponent to look a young child who has been raped and became pregnant in the eyes and tell her she can not get an abortion; or a young daughter that she must 'legally and morally' carry her father or brother's child. Better yet, for all the fathers out there - look your own daughters or wives in the eyes and tell them not to abort a rapist or in-laws fetus. Tell them that they must carry a child even if their lives will deteriorate because of a disease. Tell your own families that before trying to deny those rights to millions of women across the country
blue1018
There have been women who had cervical cancer, found out that they were pregnant and chose to have their child. A lot of times it works out OK but sometimes the mother does die but the child lives. Any mother who loves their child will give their life to save their child's life. That is called a mother's love.
Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
Love is others centered not self centered. Pro-choice people are all about self. They are not others centered they are self-centered. They have no love or very little love for other people and that lack of love extends to other areas of their life.
For all who think abortion is OK:
When a pregnant female aborts her fetus, what do you think that fetus is? Is it a clump of tissue? Is it a developing human being? etc.
What do you think a fetus is? Why do you think it is OK to abort the fetus?
blue, and how will an abortion help this 12 year old to handle the trauma of the rape or the incest? Plus, these cases are only 2 to 3% of the abortions in America. And as with any rule there indeed can be exceptions to this rule as well.
The atrocity of lordshepards response is really, really scary. I completely agree with you. Keep in mind not just ADULT rape victims, but also children. What if, under a reverse of Roe v. Wade, a CHILD becomes pregnant from a rapist? 14? 13? Hell, what about a 12 year old? Not only the psychological trauma, what about the physical burden of a innocent, young child carrying an unwanted fetus. that's middle school, for ya...
And how can ANYONE defend a pregnancy by incest? I'd like these republicans to look a young daughter in the eyes and say: if your father or brother rapes you, you must carry the child by law. Absolutely despicable..
Daniel Paul: actually, when some women who are diagnosed with cancer or other diseases that need immediate surgery or medical care find out that they are pregnant, that is an example of a woman's life in danger.
can't believe I got 4 thumbs down, don't you Americans have a sense of humour....
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