GOP Platform Chair: Rape A ‘Detail’ In The Abortion Debate

[cal04]

Governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) today claimed the issue of a rape exception to abortion was a “detail” to be left up to states and Congress. On ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos confronted the Governor and Party Platform Chair with the absolutist anti-abortion language in the platform he led the development of. This was his response:

McDonnell: We’re affirming that we’re a pro-life party.The details certainly are left to Congress and, ultimately, to the states and the people on how they ratify such an amendment. More importantly, what they do at the state level.

Stephanapoulous: So is the party for a rape exception or not?

McDonnell: The party didn’t make any judgment on that. It’s a general proposition to say we support human life. The rest of the details are up to the states and the people respectively, George. That’s simply not covered.

Watch it:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/08/26/745691/gop-platform-chair-rape-a-detail-in-the-abortion-debate/

(snip)
Moreover, McDonnell’s interpretation of his platform language is misleading. As Stephanapoulous noted, the platform endorsed a Human Life Amendment “to make clear that the 14th Amendment’s protections apply to all unborn children.” As the 14th Amendment requires all persons receive equal protection under the law, the practical effect of the amendment would be to render any law that allowed for any abortion in any case unconstitutional. This includes state-level laws, which means McDonnell’s line that the rape exception would be left to Congress and/or the states is flatly false.

[pansypoo53219]

1. the living woman is just a detail.

but she doesn't count i guess.

[gollygee]

2. This is really a good way to explain the diff between those in favor of choice and those opposed to

choice.

They see the trauma the woman might face, whether she was raped, whether she got pregnant by an abusive spouse who will get visitation, etc. as "details" as opposed to the big picture of the potential baby.

Whereas we see all the possibilities - all the possible reasons a woman might decide to get an abortion, and all of those possibilities are the reason we think it should be legal. Who knows what she's facing? Only she does. Therefore she's the one who should choose.

[HopeHoops]

3. Excuse me, but RAPE is sort of FUNDAMENTAL to the debate, asswipes.