In 2001, Obama argued in the Illinois State Senate that a baby who survived a late-term abortion should have been killed, in deference to what Obama argued was a woman’s absolute right to an abortion, such that no restriction must be placed on the right of a mother to abort her child.
............
“Gosnell’s conviction forces into the debate the question whether it is equally first-degree murder if the identical procedure of severing the spinal cord of a living fetus was performed inside the womb,” Corsi said.
“Gosnell’s conviction would indicate the procedure was not a legal abortion, but first-degree murder, if performed on the same infant outside the womb.”
.............
Jill Stanek’s testimony
Obama had heard the testimony of Illinois nurse Jill Stanek, who testified before Obama’s Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee. She related the story of an aborted Down syndrome baby who survived a late-term induced-labor abortion and was abandoned in the hospital’s Soiled Utility Room because the baby’s parents did not want to hold him.
“I couldn’t bear the thought of this child lying alone in a Soiled Utility Room,” Stanek testified before Obama’s committee in the Illinois senate. “So, I cradled and rocked him for the 45 minutes that he lived.”
Fundamental to Gosnell’s argument was that severing the spinal cord of a baby who survived an abortion was not infanticide.
The jury disagreed, finding in three of the four cases the infant was alive outside the womb, having survived the abortion attempt, before Gosnell terminated the infant’s life by severing its spinal cord.
.....................
Obama argued for killing babies who survive abortions
When Jill Stanek’s testimony went public, the public outcry in Illinois led to the introduction of legislation designed to protect the lives of babies that survive late-term, labor-induced abortions.
On March 30, 2001, Obama was the only Illinois senator who rose to speak against the bill.
A transcript of the Illinois senate session has been archived on the Internet, complete with Obama’s comments as he made them that day on the Illinois senate floor.
Obama objected that if the proposed bill passed so that a mature fetus surviving a late-term labor-induced abortion was deemed to be a person with a right to live, then the proposed law would “forbid abortions to take place.”
Obama further explained the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment does not allow somebody to kill a child, so if the law deemed the fetus who survived a late-term labor-induced abortion was a child that had a right to live, “then this would be an anti-abortion statute.”
Not wanting to be the only Illinois state senator to vote against the bill, something Obama realized would be politically unpopular with his constituency, he took the easy way out and voted “Present.”
In the Illinois senate, voting “Present” is the equivalent of voting “No,” because a bill must have a majority counting only “Yes” votes to pass.
Gosnell conviction a setback for Obama
What a travesty that such people hold public office.