Reply #50: I don't like Kucinich's flip-flop on abortion [View All]

[MiserableFailure]

It happened right around the time he started to consider running for president:

Dennis Kucinich:

Voted YES on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes.
Vote to pass a bill that would make it a federal crime to harm a fetus while committing any of 68 federal offenses or a crime under military law. Abortion doctors and women whose own actions harmed their fetuses would be exempt.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Graham, R-SC; Bill HR 503 ; vote number 2001-89 on Apr 26, 2001

Voted YES on banning partial-birth abortions.
HR 3660 would ban doctors from performing the abortion procedure called "dilation and extraction" . The measure would allow the procedure only if the life of the woman is at risk.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Canady, R-FL; Bill HR 3660 ; vote number 2000-104 on Apr 5, 2000

Voted YES on barring transporting minors to get an abortion.
The Child Custody Protection Act makes it a federal crime to transport a minor across state lines for the purpose of obtaining an abortion.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Ros-Lehtinen, R-FL; Bill HR 1218 ; vote number 1999-261 on Jun 30, 1999


Then he flip-flopped and voted against the PBA ban 3 years later:

Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life.
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003: Vote to pass a bill banning a medical procedure, which is commonly known as "partial-birth" abortion. The procedure would be allowed only in cases in which a women's life is in danger, not for cases where a women's health is in danger. Those who performed this procedure, would face fines and up to two years in prison, the women to whom this procedure is performed on are not held criminally liable.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Santorum, R-PA; Bill S.3 ; vote number 2003-530 on Oct 2, 2003

Kucinich can say that his journey was not politically motivated, but it happened a year before he started running for president. Up until that point, he was 100% anti-choice. I think he realized that he was going to be running to the left of most of the candidates in the primary, and he wouldn't be able to count on support from more liberal Democrats with a blatantly anti-choice record. Every time Kucinich brings up the mistakes of these candidates, I want whoever is being attacked by him to throw this in his face. Most primary voters don't know this about Kucinich but everyone needs to know. The guy was almost 60 years old when he changed his mind, this isn't simply someone growing up and changing their poltical views