Senator John McCain has picked up the endorsement of former governor Frank Keating, despite McCain's "nuance" of his abortion position since his last presidential run in 2000. McCain is now claiming he is pro-life, and to prove that claim to social conservatives, he will speak at a teenage abstinence rally in South Carolina later today.
Keating, who is Catholic, signed a bill in June 2001 to prevent teenagers from having an abortion unless they first received the consent of their parents.
The measure also held abortion practitioners liable for "physical and emotional injuries" suffered by a minor if they do not notify or receive consent from a parent prior to performing an abortion on a girl under 18 years of age.
Keating also signed a bill in May 2002 authorizing the state's "Choose Life" license plates
As we wrote above, McCain's position seems to have changed decidedly since 2000:
By Tina Cassidy, Globe Staff, 2/25/2000
"At one point in the campaign, McCain said he would not support the repeal of Roe v. Wade because it would force women to have ''illegal and dangerous operations.'' And during a swing through New Hampshire, he told reporters that if his teenage daughter got pregnant ''the final decision'' about whether to terminate ''would be made by [her].''
In both instances, McCain later said he misspoke."
This commentary appeared in a slightly different form on
nationalreview.com, February 7, 2001:
"John McCain is hawking a book of pro-abortion propaganda to his colleagues. Surprised? Don't be. He's the hero of the story.
Richard North Patterson's novel Protect and Defend tells a familiar story: Mean-spirited conservatives, Republicans, and Christian Right anti-abortion fanatics in Washington, D.C., vs. the pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-campaign-reform forces of light.
Senator Chad Palmer is twice a hero: once for enduring being kidnapped and held hostage by Islamic extremists, and now for supporting campaign-finance reform even though he's a Republican. Palmer used to be pro-life, until his teenage daughter was able to start turning her life around by getting a legal abortion. And now he has to vote on a controversial nominee to be chief justice of the Supreme Court. The previous one, a hateful old conservative, died of a stroke while giving the oath of office to the new Democratic president. The president names a feminist judge.
During her confirmation hearings, this judge writes a decision letting a 15-year-old girl abort her hydrocephalic fetus at seven and a half months over the objections of her parents, who are tyrannical religious zealots. She is bitterly opposed by anti-abortionists with names like Mace and Harshman, as well as by a group called the "Christian Commitment." Eventually a sleazy Washington lobbyist exposes the abortion in Senator Palmer's family. His daughter, distraught, drinks a bottle of wine, gets behind the wheel on an icy night, and dies. So guess who casts the deciding vote in the Senate? And guess which way he votes?
Last month, real-life Senators John McCain and Barbara Boxer jointly sent a copy of this book with a letter to every member of the Senate. This evening, McCain and Boxer are hosting a reception and book-signing party for Patterson in the United States Capitol. "Labels: Abortion, Decision '08, Frank Keating, John McCain
Posted at 2/19/2007 09:09:00 AM
