Statement of Carol Tobias
NRL Political Director
January 22, 2003

Last night, all six candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for President bowed down before the country=s largest pro-abortion organization and pledged their total and unequivocal support for unrestricted abortion on demand.

Senator John Edwards, Senator John Kerry, Senator Joe Lieberman, Congressman Dick Gephardt, former Governor Howard Dean, and Rev. Al Sharpton all appeared at the NARAL gala to Acelebrate@ 30 years of killing unborn children in this country.

Senators Edwards, Kerry, and Lieberman all have solidly pro-abortion voting records.

Edwards, Kerry, and Lieberman voted to endorse Roe v. Wade, which allows abortion for any reason, even as a method of birth control.  All three voted against the bill to ban partial-birth abortions, which allowed partial-birth abortions to continue with no restrictions.

Before Edwards joined the Senate, Kerry & Lieberman voted to block a bill which would have prevented minor daughters from being taken across state lines for secret abortions without parental notice or consent.

Congressman Gephardt used to be pro-life but, for what appears to be political expediency on his part, he has flipped  and now votes solidly pro-abortion.

Congressman Gephardt=s only pro-life vote in these last few years has been to vote in favor of banning partial-birth abortions, but only after voting for an amendment to completely gut the bill.

Congressman Gephardt voted against the bill to ban all human cloning; supporting instead the cloning of human embryos to be used in experiments that will kill them.  Gephardt  voted to allow minor girls to be taken across state lines for secret abortions, without parental notice or consent, and he voted against protecting hospitals and other health care providers from being forced to participate in abortions.

Edwards, Kerry, Lieberman, and Gephardt all voted to pay for abortion on demand under tax-funded federal employee health plans, and they voted to require U.S. military hospitals to perform abortion on demand.

Howard Dean and Al Sharpton have also taken strong pro-abortion positions.

The presence of all six contenders at the NARAL dinner last night reinforces the view that the Democratic party is under the solid control of rabid pro-abortion leaders.  Once again, the many, many pro-life members of the Democratic party have been ignored, giving them no pro-life alternative in the upcoming Democratic primaries.

We have a solidly pro-life president in the White House now.  George W. Bush has helped to foster a culture in which unborn children are welcomed in life and protected in law. 

Pro-lifers must do everything possible in the next 22 months to educate fellow citizens regarding the positions of the candidates who would seek to lead this nation.

Will that leader believe that the lives of precious unborn children should be protected, or will that leader believe that the lives of these children can and should be discarded at will?