Wall Street Opinion Journal | William McGurn | June 26, 2008

[...]
Mr. Obama is for using tax dollars to fund abortions, and against restrictions on partial-birth abortion. In the Illinois Senate, he voted against legislation protecting a child who was born alive despite an abortion. In sum, if you want to know what Mr. Obama’s policies mean, it’s this: taxpayer-funded abortion on demand.

Not fair, complains the Obama camp. They point to statements supporting adoption. They cite the story about how he removed language about “right-wing ideologues” from one of his Web sites after a pro-life doctor complained. Above all, they say he has acknowledged a moral dimension to abortion, that he’s willing to listen, and that he wants to work for fewer abortions.

All very true. Yet this defense reflects a common complaint about the Obama campaign in general: When you look past the soothing language about “change” and the willingness to “listen,” the actual policies and voting record are to the left of Ted Kennedy’s and Bernie Sanders’.

It’s a tough sell to present this record as auguring an America where there are fewer abortions. But some try. Generally there are two lines of argument. The first is to claim that Republicans have done nothing during their time in power to diminish abortion. Plainly this is not the view that Planned Parenthood promotes on its Web site, where President Bush’s many actions are chronicled and listed under the heading “war on women.” As Mr. Obama himself notes, moreover, Republicans generally do not appoint the kind of judges the pro-choice side demands: That is, judges who can be counted on to impose their own views upon the law on issues that ought properly be left to the American people.

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