Jerry Edwards Quotes

At the time of the debate, the average pregnant woman’s risk of death was much higher from delivery than for an early abortion.

In what may be the first written record of abortion in the "new world"

This quotation is one of the best examples of political flip flopping and expedience. The quotation taken by itself is not unusual and is the same position as political candidates in Massachusetts have taken for years regardless of political party. Romney was then running for the Senate—a race that he lost. Later he ran for Governor on the same position and won. However in 2008, he decided to run for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. However, at that time, the Christian Religious Right had sufficient clout within the Republican party that no one with Romney’s position on abortion would be likely to win the nomination. So Romney reversed his position on abortion and when accused of flip-flopping for political expediency, claimed that he had had an epiphany regarding abortion. However as this quotation shows, he had always believed that the personal abortion views of candidates should NOT be brought into the campaign. However along with his epiphany on abortion itself, he conveniently now claimed every candidate should constantly declare in his campaigning his position on abortion. He also flip flopped on many other issues including repudiating the Obama Health Care reform which was modeled after the very successful program he had supported when Governor. He changed on so many issues that even the Christian Right Wing Fundamentalists, whose political positions he espoused did not always trust him, nor did most of the moderates and liberals whose views he used to claim when it was politically advantageous to do so.

Part of this maldistribution problem is a general health care distribution problem in rural areas. The larger part however, is the result of the religious and right to life pressures which tend to have more affect in rural areas than in cities and suburbs. One pressure is the fear that abortion providers have as a result of the many murders and assaults of the right to life forces.

At the time the United States was the only developed country where the early abortion drugs were not available without a doctor's prescription. Ironically the drugs were even safer than the previous surgical abortion procedures where were already extremely safe. But the politics of the "culture wars" at the time obstructed scientific and medical decision making at the FDA.

This is a wonderful example of a good rhetorical technique. He focuses the attention on the unborn by observing that all his opponents on this point have already been born. Of course, he and all his supporters on the point—those who are against abortion—have already been born also. So what would the unborn say? Well that no one could know nor can any one know if the unborn have any thoughts must less thoughts on the subject of abortion.

Although abortion was illegal and condemned by virtually all elements of American society, it was practiced in numbers far in excess of anything that occurred after abortion had become legal. The economic and social pressure for abortion was the major driver of abortion then and has probably almost always been so.

Not all abortion opponents object to birth control, but many do believing the two practices to be morally sinful. While the abortion conflict is given more publicity there are many in America who would return to the pre 1963 era when birth control was criminalized.

The argument she made is that a woman should not be required to risk her life if she does not want to. Other than military conscription, there is no other aspect of American law whereby the society forces a citizen to risk their life.

John Ashcroft was then the Attorney General and a foe of abortion.

See {592411} for Hardin’s reputation on abortion.