Life, Stats & Election-Year Snow Jobs: An Atlanta ob-gyn on abortion, Kerry & the Catholic Church
Kathryn Jean Lopez
"If Senator Kerry is elected he will assure that abortion remains legal in the U.S. for another generation," Dr. Kathleen M. Raviele, M.D., an ob-gyn based in Atlanta and treasurer of the Catholic Medical Association, tells National Review Online in an interview. The Kerry campaign, despite being endorsed by "NARAL Pro-Choice America" (they gave him a "pro-choice" voting score of 100%) is trying in these final weeks of a tight presidential campaign to sell its candidate as a principled Catholic candidate. One, who might even oppose abortion in his heart, his rhetoric suggests, but who would never impose such a view on Americans. Some wonder, however, how an individual who might believe life begins at conception (Kerry said as much in a primary-season interview), could consistently, for instance, vote against a ban on partial-birth abortion, a procedure the late liberal Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan (an abortion supporter) called "infanticide." Despite Kerry's 11th hour Hail-Mary pass to try to con Catholic swing voters, his consistent (no flip-flopping on this one) congressional record in support of abortion exists, and will take more than a well-finessed speech or two to erase. As President Bush might put it, he can run, but he can't hide his public record.
In talking to NRO, Dr. Raviele -- who is a fellow in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a member of the American Association of Pro-Life Ob-Gyns, and on the board of Georgia Right to Life -- gets into the inexact science of abortion demography, the myth of the necessity of partial-birth abortion (one Kerry buys into), and more.
It's only a cursory look, but a deeper one than you'll likely get from your MSM (Mainstream Media) outlet of choice; it's you might want to share with your favorite swing voter.
Read the entire article on the National Review Online website.