ELECTION 2008 | McCain, Obama Discuss Abortion Rights During Third Presidential Debate
[Oct. 16, 2008]

Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) during the third and last presidential debate Wednesday night discussed their positions on abortion rights, an issue that "has surfaced infrequently during the campaign, despite the candidates' stark differences on the issue," the Washington Post reports (Shear/Barnes, Washington Post, 10/16).

When asked if Roe v. Wade should be overturned, McCain said that the ruling was a "bad decision," adding that he is a federalist who believes that "decisions should rest in the hands of the states." He said that he "believe[s] strongly that we should have nominees to the United States Supreme Court based on their qualifications rather than any litmus test," and added that he voted to confirm Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"[n]ot because I agreed with their ideology, but because I thought they were qualified and that elections have consequences when presidents are nominated." When asked if he would consider a nominee who "had a history of being for abortion rights," McCain responded that he "would consider anyone in their qualifications" but that he does not "believe that someone who has supported [Roe] would be part of those qualifications."

Obama agreed that "we shouldn't apply a strict litmus test" to Supreme Court nominees, adding that nominations are "one of the most consequential decisions of the next president" and that Roe "hangs in the balance." Obama said that as an abortion-rights supporter, he believes that "women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision. And I think that the Constitution has a right to privacy in it that shouldn't be subject to state referendum, any more than our First Amendment rights are subject to state referendum, any more than many of other rights that we have should be subject to popular vote" (Debate transcript, New York Times, 10/15).

McCain "suggested that Obama had stepped to the political fringe by failing to take a position on a late-term abortion ban when he served in the Illinois Senate and for opposing a measure that would provide medical attention to a child born of a failed abortion," the Los Angeles Times reports (Barabak/Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 10/16).

In response to McCain's comments on his record as a state senator, Obama said, "If it sounds incredible that I would vote to withhold lifesaving treatment from an infant, that's because it's not true." He said, "The fact is that there was already a law on the books in Illinois that required providing lifesaving treatment, which is why not only myself but pro-choice Republicans and Democrats voted against it." He also said, "With respect to partial-birth abortion, I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortion, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception." He said that he attempted to "includ[e] that so that it is constitutional. And that was rejected, and that's why I voted present" (Debate transcript, New York Times, 10/15). According to the Los Angeles Times, "In a race in which millions of dollars have been spent for the votes of American women, McCain managed ... to mock the notion that late-term abortions should be allowed in cases where a mother's health is threatened" (Decker, Los Angeles Times, 10/16).

Obama said "surely there is some common ground" where abortion-rights opponents and supporters "can come together and say, 'We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that [youth] should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby." McCain responded that being "for the health of the mother" has been "stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything." He added, "That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, 'health.'" He agreed that "we have to come together," adding, "Of course, we have to work together and, of course, it's vital that we do so and help these young women who are facing such a difficult decision, with a compassion, that we'll help them with the adoptive services, with the courage to bring that child into this world and we'll help take care of it" (Debate transcript, New York Times, 10/15).

Opinion Piece

Obama's pragmatic approach of reducing unintended pregnancies to find "common ground" in the abortion-rights debate is an example of his approach of looking "for a course most of us can agree on," Slate contributor William Saletan writes in an opinion piece. According to Saletan, when it comes to one of the "most polarizing topics in modern politics," Obama is attempting to make the abortion-rights issue a technical one, rather than about "opposing values" or "what will or won't work."

Saletan writes, "What disgusts most people about abortion as a political issue is that on that topic, unlike economics or foreign policy, nothing ever seems to be accomplished. It's the same damned debate, election after election, with each side trying to scare you about the other." He concludes that if Obama can make abortion-related issues more like economic or energy issues, "and couple it with a record of material progress in the form of fewer procedures, he'll take much of the political heat out of it" (Saletan, Slate, 10/16).

Broadcast Coverage
MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on Wednesday included a discussion with MSNBC correspondent Rachel Maddow and MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan about McCain and Obama's comments on abortion during the debate (Olbermann, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," MSNBC, 10/15).

CNN video of the candidates' comments on abortion is available online (CNN.com, 10/16).





The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

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