The TRUTH about Obama on the Born Alive Act

The Facts

In The Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama Voted At Least Six Times Against Legislation That Would Protect The Life Of A Child Born Alive During An Abortion Procedure. (S.B. 1082: Illinois Senate Health And Human Services Committee, Rejected, 4-6-0, 3/12/03, Obama Voted Nay; S.B. 1093: Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, Passed, 7-4, 3/27/01, Obama Voted Nay; S.B. 1094: Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, Passed, 7-4, 3/27/01, Obama Voted Nay; S.B. 1095: Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, Passed, 7-4, 3/27/01, Obama Voted Nay; S.B. 1662: Senate Floor Third Reading, Passed, 30-12-10, 4/4/02, Obama Voted Nay; S.B. 1663: Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, Passed, 6-3-1, 3/5/02, Obama Voted Nay)

FactCheck.org: While Barack Obama Says He Would Have Voted For The Federal “Born Alive” Legislation, He Voted Against A “Nearly Identical” Bill In The Illinois State Legislature. “Obama opposed the 2001 and 2002 ‘born alive’ bills as backdoor attacks on a woman’s legal right to abortion, but he says he would have been ‘fully in support’ of a similar federal bill that President Bush had signed in 2002, because it contained protections for Roe v. Wade. We find that, as the NRLC said in a recent statement, Obama voted in committee against the 2003 state bill that was nearly identical to the federal act he says he would have supported. Both contained identical clauses saying that nothing in the bills could be construed to affect legal rights of an unborn fetus, according to an undisputed summary written immediately after the committee’s 2003 mark-up session.” (Jess Henig, “Obama And ‘Infanticide,'” FactCheck.org, http://www.factcheck.org, 8/25/08)

Barack Obama’s Campaign “Acknowledged That He Had Voted Against An Identical Bill In The State Senate.” “His campaign yesterday acknowledged that he had voted against an identical bill in the state Senate, and a spokesman, Hari Sevugan, said the senator and other lawmakers had concerns that even as worded, the legislation could have undermined existing Illinois abortion law.” (Russell Berman, “Obama Facing Attacks From All Sides Over Abortion Record,” The New York Sun, 8/18/08)

FactCheck.org: Barack Obama’s Stated Reasons For Voting Against The Bill Are “Wrong.” “The statement was still on Obama’s Web site as of this writing, Aug. 25, long after Obama had accused his detractors of ‘lying.’ But Obama’s claim is wrong. In fact, by the time the HHS Committee voted on the bill, it did contain language identical to the federal act.” (Jess Henig, “Obama And ‘Infanticide,'” FactCheck.org, http://www.factcheck.org, 8/25/08)