Pro-life activists are openly frustrated with the leading candidates for both the Democratic and Republican nominations, scolding Hillary Clinton for saying the unborn have no rights and slamming Donald Trump for offering a variety of positions in recent days.
Clinton is under fire for her Sunday “Meet the Press” appearance. Moderator Chuck Todd asked if or when the unborn have constitutional rights. Clinton flatly said she believes they have no rights.
“Under our laws currently, that is not something that exists. The unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights,” said Clinton.
Susan B. Anthony List National Campaign Chair Jill Stanek says Clinton managed to get herself in trouble with advocates on both sides of the issue.
“The key word there, of course, was person. She called a pre-born baby a person. Since then, she’s been under fire from both sides for saying this. The abortion lobby is furious with her because she used the word person, saying that it further stigmatizes abortion. Pro-lifers are saying, ‘If you acknowledge the baby is a person, then why does not this person have rights?” said Stanek.
Stanek is a former nurse who held an aborted baby until it died because the medical team refused to provide life-saving treatment. She became a pro-life advocate and confronted then-Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama over his opposition to a bill that would require doctors to treat babies who survive abortions. In 2015, she was among the leaders of a Capitol Hill sit-in, demanding House action on a bill to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
In her “Meet the Press” interview, Clinton stated that she would be open to “reasonable restrictions” to abortion as president. Stanek says that’s nonsense because the rest of her answer proves she will do the bidding of the abortion lobby. Specifically, she cited Clinton’s regard for “health of the mother.”
“Health of the mother is a huge loophole. She’s signaling to the pro-abortion lobby. She’s wink-winking with them. She’s still with them on everything,” said Stanek.
So why is “health of the mother” such a loaded term in Stanek’s estimation?
“When the Doe v. Bolton decision was decided on the same day as Roe v. Wade, they defined health of the mother as all factors, ‘physical, emotional, psychological, familial and women’s age.’ That is basically abortion on demand and she knows it,” said Stanek.
Stanek says the media constantly fail to press Clinton on her pro-choice position.
“The press really needs to ask her to name a circumstance in which she would protect the life of a pre-born child because she hasn’t and she can’t,” said Stanek.
As for Trump, it was a recent interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that put the GOP delegate leader on the defensive. One exchange in particular drew headlines, as Matthews asked Trump what the consequence for abortion should be for women if abortion were made illegal in the U.S.:
Matthews: Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?
Trump: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
Matthews: For the woman.
Trump. Yeah, there has to be some form.
Earlier in that same discussion of what banning abortion would look like, Trump indicated that a sizable portion of the GOP electorate would favor punishing the woman.
“People in certain parts of the Republican Party and conservative Republicans would say, ‘Yes, they should be punished,'” said Trump.
Stanek says abortion is hurting Trump because his answers do not assure activists he is truly pro-life, which Trump emphatically insists that he is.
“We know he says he is a pro-life convert. If that’s true, he doesn’t know very much about the pro-life issue. So he definitely needs to take counsel from pro-lifers. What he said is that women should be punished, which is not the pro-life position. It has never been the pro-life position,” said Stanek.
The Trump campaign followed up the MSNBC appearance with multiple statements, retracting Trump’s contention that women would hypothetically be punished if abortion were made illegal. But the campaign also seemed content to leave abortion laws as they are.
“I would’ve preferred states’ rights,” he added. “I think it would’ve been better if it were up to the states. But right now, the laws are set….At this moment, the laws are set. And I think we have to leave it that way,” said Trump to John Dickerson of ‘Face the Nation.’
However, Trump also said he considers abortion to be murder.
Following that appearance, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump only meant the laws are set until he becomes president.
“Mr. Trump gave an accurate account of the law as it is today and made clear it must stay that way now –until he is President,” said Hicks in the statement. “Then he will change the law through his judicial appointments and allow the states to protect the unborn. There is nothing new or different here.”
The whole sequence leaves Stanek dazed.
“Forty-three years ago, when abortion was illegal, women were not punished for abortion and they won’t be punished when it’s made illegal again. Then he said it was a state’s decision. That would mean that he was violating his oath to sign the 20-week abortion ban if he became president,” said Stanek.
“Then he said it wasn’t a states’ decision after all. Then most recently, within the last couple days he said abortion is the law of the land and that’s the way it should be,” said Stanek.
Stanek says if Trump sticks to the latter position, Susan B. Anthony List will consider him disqualified for the presidency.
Another Matthews-Trump exchange discussed what options women would have to terminate their pregnancies if abortion were to be made illegal.
“You’ll go back to a position like they had where people will perhaps go to illegal places, but you have to ban it,” said Trump.
Stanek says it’s not a choice between legal abortions and back-alley abortions.
“There’s no excuse to say because we think somebody’s going to break a law that we shouldn’t pass a law. Our focus should be on not allowing women to be exploited, who find themselves in crisis pregnancies and helping them. The answer is not to get a back-alley abortion for a front-alley abortion,” said Stanek.
She says the pro-choice hypocrisy is on full display when it comes to abortion clinics as activists angrily fight against clinics having the same cleanliness standards as surgical facilities or requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at hospitals.
So how should a solidly pro-life candidate answer these key questions according to Stanek?
Should abortion be illegal?
“Yes, abortion should be illegal,” she said.
Stanek’s only exception would be to save the life of the mother but she says those circumstances are extremely rare and that doctors had the freedom to make that decision even before Roe v. Wade.
Do unborn children have rights?
“The unborn have full constitutional rights that all people in the United States have from conception on,” stated Stanek.
And if abortion is made illegal, who should be punished if one occurs?
“The abortionist should be punished and the abortionist should be punished for murder, whatever the laws are for murder in those particular states. Women should not be prosecuted. Women have always been considered victims and exploited by abortion,” said Stanek.
She says not prosecuting women will also help law enforcement to track down those responsible for performing abortions, whereas women would be far less likely to cooperate if they fear prosecution.