Shouldn't liberals be pro-life and anti-abortion ?

Question

After all, isn't liberalism supposed to be about helping out those who can't defend themselves and those who don't have a voice ?

Actually, shortly after Roe v Wade, many prominent liberals were pro-life: Jesse Jackson, Dennis Kuchinich, Al Gore, Dick Gephardt, and yes, even Ted Kennedy were pro-life. Did they cease to believe unborn children were alive or did they simply decide that the support of radical feminists was more... viable politically ?

"What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually? It is that question, the question of our attitude, our value system, and our mind-set with regard to the nature and worth of life itself that is the central question confronting mankind. Failure to answer that question affirmatively may leave us with a hell right here on earth"-Jesse Jackson

While the deep concern of a woman bearing an unwanted child merits consideration and sympathy, it is my personal feeling that the legalization of abortion on demand is not in accordance with the value which our civilization places on human life. Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized -- the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grown old. " - Ted Kennedy

"I am opposed to abortion and to government funding of abortions. We should not spend state funds on abortions because so many people believe abortion is wrong" - Bill Clinton

Francisfarmer... Umm, I believe the question is in large print at the very top. Good thing your parents didn't abort their unborn retard baby...

Answer 1

Well, then, I guess I'll be the most consistent liberal you know, because I'm pro-life & anti-abortion.

Answer 2

You seem to be consfused about this issue. An unborn fetus is not a U.S. citizen and has no rights under the constitution. The pregnant woman (having obviously been born) does have rights and liberties.

Read Rove v. Wade itself. This issue wasn't decided without reference to the practice through thousands of years of cultural history.

Quoting Roe: {It perhaps is not generally appreciated that the restrictive criminal abortion laws in effect in a majority of States today are of relatively recent vintage. Those laws, generally proscribing abortion or its attempt at any time during pregnancy except when necessary to preserve the pregnant woman's life, are not of ancient or even of common-law origin. Instead, they derive from statutory changes effected, for the most part, in the latter half of the 19th century. }

Shouldn't conservatives be Pro-liberty and against state control over an individual's life and body?

Answer 3

Shouldn't everyone be pro-choice? Liberal or not. The Founding Fathers seemed to think it relatively important that government stay out of our personal lives. I agree with them. People are going to do what they're going to do. Morality cannot be legislated. The more government creeps into our lives, the further we are from the original vision shared by Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Hamilton, etc.

Answer 4

I would think they should be, and that they would be shouting it out loud in public...

since they are the ones who claim what they do IS "for the children".... even though they haven't been offering that line as frequently as they did in the past....

I think the change in many politicians stance on abortion was motivated by a desire to acquire more votes.

Answer 5

Shouldnt conservatives be pro-life and anti-death penalty if they really care about the sanctity of life???

For the record....I am against abortion, and I am neither liberal or conservative, but this perspective of yours seems extremely right wing, and I wish that you people could at least make up your mind about if life is or is not important....the argument should be that humans have no right to decide to take another persons life whether that be an unborn baby, or a person who may or may not be guilty of a crime. If you are for life....be for life in all aspects......and calling people retarded certainly proves your ignorance.

Answer 6

I totally agree with you. It wasn't until Abortion became such a hot-button issue that these liberals became pro-abortion and/or pro-choice.

Personally, I do not believe in abortion, but we cannot deny it to women who want it. I say this because we would have a health care crisis; with women obtaining back-room abortions only to face botched procedures, infections and perhaps death.

Answer 7

I am liberal and pro-life and anti-abortion.

I am against all anti-life things, such as abortion, birth control, abstinence and the death penalty.

I am more pro-life than most conservowackos.

Answer 8

Given the right-wing crackpots that are in fact "save the babies,kill everybody else",they dont cave into that kind of lunacy.

Unlike pro-lifers.pro-choicers dont whore babies to push an agenda that is a wolf in sheeps clothing.

The anti-abortion crowd is the most violent minded and nutty faction of this or any society.

Answer 9

Look at all the potential democrat voters they've killed off, all the teachers jobs thrown away .

ANYTHING FOR A VOTE EVEN MURDER !

Answer 10

I thought conservatives were for less government intervention? Using government to interfere in a woman's right to decide sounds suspiciously liberal to me...