| The Supreme Court’s recent decision,
prohibiting states from banning partial-birth abortions — a procedure denounced
by a committee of the American Medical Association and rightly branded as
four-fifths infanticide — shocks the conscience of the nation. As a country, we
must keep our pledge to the first guarantee of the Declaration of
Independence. That is why we say the unborn child has a fundamental individual
right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to
the Constitution and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth
Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have
legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform
abortions. We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund
organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who
respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human
life.
Our goal is to ensure that women with
problem pregnancies have the kind of support, material and otherwise, they need
for themselves and for their babies, not to be punitive towards those for whose
difficult situation we have only compassion. We oppose abortion, but our
pro-life agenda does not include punitive action against women who have an
abortion. We salute those who provide alternatives to abortion and offer
adoption services, and we commend congressional Republicans for expanding
assistance to adopting families and for removing racial barriers to
adoption. The impact of those measures and of our Adoption and Safe Families
Act of 1997 has been spectacular. Adoptions out of foster care have jumped
forty percent and the incidence of child abuse and neglect has actually
declined. We second Governor Bush’s call to make permanent the adoption tax
credit and expand it to $7,500. |
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We will defend the dignity of all Americans against those who would undermine it. Because we
believe in the privacy and equality of women, we stand proudly for a woman's right to choose,
consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of her ability to pay. We stand firmly against
Republican efforts to undermine that right. At the same time, we strongly support family planning
and adoption incentives. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. |
| Women's Rights and AbortionThe Issue: Recognizing that abortion is a very sensitive issue and that people, including libertarians, can hold good-faith views on both sides, we believe the government should be kept out of the question. We condemn state-funded
and state-mandated abortions. It is particularly harsh to force someone
who believes that abortion is murder to pay for another's
abortion.
The Principle: We hold that individual rights
should not be denied or abridged on the basis of sex. It is the right
and obligation of the pregnant woman, not the state, to decide the
desirability or appropriateness of prenatal testing, Caesarean births,
fetal surgery, voluntary surrogacy arrangements and/or home births.
Solutions: We oppose all laws likely to impose
restrictions on free choice and private property or to widen tyranny
through reverse discrimination.
Transitional Action: We
call for repeal of all laws discriminating against women, such as
protective labor laws and marriage or divorce laws which deny the full
rights of men and women.
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