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FOCA: Freedom To Kill Act
By Wendy Wright, For The Bulletin
The signs were clear. While serving as an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama voted four times against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, an Illinois bill to protect babies who survive abortions. The Democratic Party platform (under his leadership) dropped the words meant to show moderation on abortion — “safe, legal and rare” — and added “unequivocally” to its support of abortion. Mr. Obama criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the ban on partial-birth abortion. No more extreme candidate has run, much less won, the presidency. And he did it by claiming he wants to “reduce the number of abortions.”
Eliminating Limits On Abortion
Now we face one of the greatest challenges of the pro-life movement. As a U.S. senator, Mr. Obama co-sponsored the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) and told Planned Parenthood in 2007 that his first act as president would be to sign it.
The Freedom of Choice Act would wipe out every pro-life protection passed in the last 36 years, state and federal — and any that would be passed in the future. While advocates claim it would simply codify Roe v. Wade, Sen. Barbara Boxer admitted, “FOCA [will] supersede all other laws,” including laws that the Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional.
FOCA would outlaw any “interference” with providing abortion, elevating abortion to a “fundamental right” on par with the right to free speech (which, unlike abortion, is actually in the Constitution). It would strip away the right of women to receive truthful information on the damage abortion causes, the right of parents to protect their minor daughters, the right of taxpayers not to be forced to subsidize abortions, the right of states to pass modest regulations such as health and safety codes on abortion clinics. And that’s just the beginning.
According to Americans United for Life, FOCA would nullify over 550 laws including:
• Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003
• Hyde Amendment and other limits on forcing taxpayer funding of elective abortions
• Restrictions on abortions in military hospitals
• Informed consent laws
• Waiting periods
• Parental consent and notification laws
• Health and safety regulations on abortion clinics
• Requirements that licensed doctors perform abortions
• Bans on abortion after the baby is viable. (Under FOCA, post-viability abortions are permitted for the woman’s “health,” which has been defined to mean almost anything.)
• Legal protections for health-care providers and hospitals that decline to commit abortions
Will It Reduce Abortions?
Douglas Kmiec, law professor and former Reagan/Bush appointee, shocked the pro-life community by endorsing Mr. Obama. But his reasoning was terribly flawed.
He claimed we have only two choices: pass limits on abortion and appoint judges who will overturn Roe, or provide help to pregnant women. As he wrote, “good, evenhanded information and genuine empathy and love save more children than hypothetical legal limits — which, as best as I can tell, have saved: well, zero.”1
We can do both. And, despite Mr. Kmiec’s allegation, legal limits do save lives.
Pro-life pregnancy centers provide free material, emotional and spiritual help to women with unexpected pregnancies. Women no longer need to feel alone and with only one choice — abortion — with the thousands of gracious volunteers dedicated to helping during and after (through parenting classes and other services) their time of need.
On the legal side, studies show that states which pass regulations on abortion, such as informed consent laws (requiring that a patient receive information on the development of her unborn baby and possible consequences of abortion) and bans on spending tax dollars on abortions, have fewer abortions.
Conversely, states that enact FOCA-type laws experience an increase in abortions.
Mr. Obama’s FOCA would eliminate legal provisions that have proven to reduce the number of abortions.
FOCA By Stealth
Mr. Obama has peppered his administration with high-level, hard-core abortion advocates. Since FOCA is garnering negative attention, Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress may instead implement it piece by piece.
Their first actions will likely be funding international abortion groups (through an executive order) and subsidizing domestic abortions (through government funded health care programs).
What the government funds, we get more of. Mr. Obama’s sincerity will be proven shortly. Will he fulfill his promise to pass FOCA (intact or bit by bit), or fulfill his promise to reduce abortions — which is accomplished by restricting abortion?
Wendy Wright is the president of Concerned Women for America.
Eliminating Limits On Abortion
Now we face one of the greatest challenges of the pro-life movement. As a U.S. senator, Mr. Obama co-sponsored the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) and told Planned Parenthood in 2007 that his first act as president would be to sign it.
The Freedom of Choice Act would wipe out every pro-life protection passed in the last 36 years, state and federal — and any that would be passed in the future. While advocates claim it would simply codify Roe v. Wade, Sen. Barbara Boxer admitted, “FOCA [will] supersede all other laws,” including laws that the Supreme Court has upheld as constitutional.
FOCA would outlaw any “interference” with providing abortion, elevating abortion to a “fundamental right” on par with the right to free speech (which, unlike abortion, is actually in the Constitution). It would strip away the right of women to receive truthful information on the damage abortion causes, the right of parents to protect their minor daughters, the right of taxpayers not to be forced to subsidize abortions, the right of states to pass modest regulations such as health and safety codes on abortion clinics. And that’s just the beginning.
According to Americans United for Life, FOCA would nullify over 550 laws including:
• Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003
• Hyde Amendment and other limits on forcing taxpayer funding of elective abortions
• Restrictions on abortions in military hospitals
• Informed consent laws
• Waiting periods
• Parental consent and notification laws
• Health and safety regulations on abortion clinics
• Requirements that licensed doctors perform abortions
• Bans on abortion after the baby is viable. (Under FOCA, post-viability abortions are permitted for the woman’s “health,” which has been defined to mean almost anything.)
• Legal protections for health-care providers and hospitals that decline to commit abortions
Will It Reduce Abortions?
Douglas Kmiec, law professor and former Reagan/Bush appointee, shocked the pro-life community by endorsing Mr. Obama. But his reasoning was terribly flawed.
He claimed we have only two choices: pass limits on abortion and appoint judges who will overturn Roe, or provide help to pregnant women. As he wrote, “good, evenhanded information and genuine empathy and love save more children than hypothetical legal limits — which, as best as I can tell, have saved: well, zero.”1
We can do both. And, despite Mr. Kmiec’s allegation, legal limits do save lives.
Pro-life pregnancy centers provide free material, emotional and spiritual help to women with unexpected pregnancies. Women no longer need to feel alone and with only one choice — abortion — with the thousands of gracious volunteers dedicated to helping during and after (through parenting classes and other services) their time of need.
On the legal side, studies show that states which pass regulations on abortion, such as informed consent laws (requiring that a patient receive information on the development of her unborn baby and possible consequences of abortion) and bans on spending tax dollars on abortions, have fewer abortions.
Conversely, states that enact FOCA-type laws experience an increase in abortions.
Mr. Obama’s FOCA would eliminate legal provisions that have proven to reduce the number of abortions.
FOCA By Stealth
Mr. Obama has peppered his administration with high-level, hard-core abortion advocates. Since FOCA is garnering negative attention, Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress may instead implement it piece by piece.
Their first actions will likely be funding international abortion groups (through an executive order) and subsidizing domestic abortions (through government funded health care programs).
What the government funds, we get more of. Mr. Obama’s sincerity will be proven shortly. Will he fulfill his promise to pass FOCA (intact or bit by bit), or fulfill his promise to reduce abortions — which is accomplished by restricting abortion?
Wendy Wright is the president of Concerned Women for America.
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