Obama Asked to Apologize For Calling Pro-Life Group Liars on His Abortion Vote

From LifeNews.com

A leading pro-life organization has released a new web ad asking Barack Obama to apologize for saying it lied about his abortion votes. Obama accused National Right to Life of lying when it released documents verifying he voted against medical care for newborns who survive abortions.

The dustup surrounds the votes Obama cast against bills in the Illinois legislature to make sure infants aren't left to die after they survive a failed abortion.

Obama voted against the bills, he says, because they would have violated Roe v. Wade, yet documents the National Right to Life Committee released weeks ago showed Obama opposed the measure even after supporting a successful amendment to limit its effect on Roe.

Those documents were supported by FactCheck, a nonpartisan research group at the University of Pennsylvania, yet Obama still hasn't apologized for calling NRLC officials liars.

The pro-life group told LifeNews.com on Friday that it has released a new Internet ad asking him to do so.

"In August, National Right to Life released documents proving that, in 2003, Barack Obama was responsible for killing a bill to provide care and protection for babies who are born alive after abortions and that he later misrepresented the bill's content," a female narrator says.

The ad cites the Obama remark, when the candidate said about NRLC, "I hate to say that people are lying -- but here's a situation where folks are lying."

It cites the FactCheck analysis saying, "Obama's claim is wrong. The documents ... support the group's claims that Obama is misrepresenting the contents of [Senate Bill] 1082."

The NRLC PAC ad goes on to say, "Was Obama afraid that the public would learn about his extreme position -- that he opposed merely defining every baby born alive after an abortion as deserving of protection?"

"Will Obama now apologize for calling us liars when we were the ones telling the truth?"

The message concludes: "Barack Obama, a candidate whose word you can't believe in."

The ad is currently online at YouTube but there is a chance it could be used in a television commercial or a radio spot.

Watchdog Group Vindicates Criticism of Obama on Abortion

From LifeNews.com


A leading pro-life organization that has been holding Barack Obama accountable for his votes against a bill that would provide medical care for newborns who survive failed abortions says it has been vindicated. The nonpartisan watchdog FactCheck said National Right to Life was right about Obama's record. The FactCheck web site of the University of Pennsylvania reviewed the debate over the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

It confirmed NRLC's claims that Obama has been misleading when he's said he voted against the bill because it didn't mirror a national version that had language making it neutral on Roe v. Wade. Responding to the conclusions, NRLC legislative director Douglas Johnson told LifeNews.com, "The most important finding by FactCheck.org is their statement that NRLC is correct and that 'Obama is misrepresenting the contents of SB 1083."

"FactCheck.org's investigation validated the documents that NRLC uncovered and released on August 11, documents that prove that in March, 2003, Obama killed a bill in his state Senate committee that was virtually identical to the bill that passed without a dissenting vote in Congress," he explained. Obama had responded to those documents claiming National Right to Life was "lying" about his record. Full story at LifeNews.com.

National Right to Life Releases Updated White Paper

Rebutting Obama's "Shifting Claims" on Born-Alive Infants

WASHINGTON (August 28, 2008) -- The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) today issued an expanded "white paper" regarding the growing controversy regarding the record of Barack Obama on the right to life of babies who are born alive during abortions.

The new document comes 17 days after NRLC's release, on August 11, of newly uncovered documents that demonstrated that Obama had been mispresenting his record on the issue since 2004. On August 16, when asked specifically about the NRLC charges during a televised interview with CBN's David Brody, Obama responded that "they have not been telling the truth" and "folks are lying." But in a report issued August 25, the independent organization FactCheck.org concluded: "Obama's claim is wrong. . . . The documents from the NRLC support the group's claims that Obama is misrepresenting the contents of SB 1082."

The new NRLC document is titled, "Barack Obama's Actions and Shifting Claims on the Protection of Born-Alive Aborted Infants -- and What They Tell Us About His Thinking on Abortion." It is authored by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Legislative Counsel Susan T. Muskett. The white paper (with links to pertinent documents) may be viewed in a web browser here, or downloaded in the PDF format here.

To view a previous (August 18) NRLC "white paper" that explains the history of the legislation and Obama's actions regarding it, click here.

The primary documents referred to in the NRLC white papers are also posted on the NRLC website, here.

In his August 23 weekly radio address, Senator John McCain criticized Obama's record on the born-alive infants issue in these words: "In 2002, Congress unanimously passed a federal law to require medical care for babies who survive abortions – living, breathing babies whom Senator Obama described as, quote, 'previable.' This merciful law was called the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Illinois had a [proposed] version of the same law, and Barack Obama voted against it. At Saddleback, he assured a reporter that he'd have voted 'yes' on that bill if it had contained language similar to the federal version of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. Even though the language of both the state and federal bills was identical, Senator Obama said people were, quote, 'lying' about his record. When that record was later produced, he dropped the subject but didn't withdraw the slander. And now even Senator Obama's campaign has conceded that his claims and accusations were false."

(To read or listen to the entire address via the Time magazine website, click here.)