Help: kerry Against Family Values Letter

[stewert]

Some right-wing nut wrote a letter to our paper with this headline:

Kerry Against Family Values

I plan to write a reply to it and de-bunk all her comments, I need some specific information to do this. So help me out here folks, here is what she said.

The Kerry/Edwards ticket claims to be for the family. But how can they say this when they continue to support abortion?

Does Kerry support abortion, or is he pro-choice (big difference). I am pretty sure he is pro-choice, is that correct. As usual repubs can not comprehend being pro-choice is not pro-abortion. Being pro-choice means you do not support abortion, or oppose it, you let the woman decide what to do with her body.

Kerry made a special trip back to Washington to vote against The Unborn Victim of Crime Bill, also know as the Laci and Connor Law.

Is it true he made a special trip back to washington just to vote against this bill. And if so I need to know why so I can de-bunk her repub talking points. I have a feeling this is repub spin and she did not list the full truth.

The Democrats stand for abortion, including partial birth abortion.

I don't think democrats stand for abortion, I think most democrats are pro-choice, once again a big difference from being pro-abortion. I thought most of the democrats voted to pass a bill making partial birth abortion illegal. I need some info on how democrats voted on partial birth abortion. And I need to know Kerry's position on partial birth abotrtion. I believe Kerry is against partial birth abortion.

That's about it, this woman is clearly a brainwashed FOX news watching idiot. How can anyone say that Kerry and the democrats oppose family values when all the unions and the teachers etc. support the democratic party. The republicans are the ones who oppose the family, they are the party who is totally in bed with the wealthy and the corporations.

[Don_G]

1. You Might Add That Kerry Is Responsible

And didn't blow $713 Billion of our tax money like Dimbo has. Values have a lot more to do with responsibility than a single issue like abortion.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. First, nobody, including Kerry is PRO-ABORTION, that is, forcing women

to undergo surgical termination of their pregnancies. He is PRO-CHOICE, which means he endorses a woman's choice to consult a physician when she decides not to allow her pregnancy to come to term.

Second, Kerry is DEFINITELY FAMILY VALUES material: He wants to see employees receive a living wage, if not better, for their contribution to their employer, their corporations, and the American economy. He wants Americans to be protected with necessary benefits, like health insurance for them and their families, pensions protected from shareholders who worry about the value of their stock, social security benefits and Medicare to protect Americans from living their last years in abject poverty and wretched health. He wants all the children of Americans to have the best education possible and is ready to support the public school teachers and public education as an institution in order to achieve that goal. In other words, he wants an American society with a strong middle class and the prospect of Americans below the middle class of having a good chance of leaving poverty behind.

To me, it's been irrelevant to talk about "family values" and abortion because the discussion centers around theoretical, future American taxpayers, not the ones already here and killing themselves through work in order to keep their families together.

[stewert]

5. Kerry is pro-choice.......

I found this at www.johnkerry.com

John Kerry believes that women have the right to control their own bodies, their own lives, and their own destinies. He believes that the Constitution protects their right to choose and to make their own decisions in consultation with their doctor, their conscience, and their God. He will defend this right as President. He recently announced he will support only pro-choice judges to the Supreme Court. Kerry also believes that we should promote family planning and health plans should assure women contraceptive coverage.

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/women/

I also found this:

Kerry Campaign Statement on Late-Term Abortion Ruling


June 01, 2004

For Immediate Release
Washington, DC

Kerry spokesperson Stephanie Cutter released the following statement today:

“John Kerry voted to restrict late-term abortions but only where there was a clear exception for life or health of women. However, George Bush pushed through a different piece of legislation that failed to protect the health of women and that is what the Court struck down today. When John Kerry is President he will appoint judges that are committed to upholding the Constitution not pursuing an ideological agenda.”

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0601e.html

[Enraged_Ape]

3. George W. Bush is truly pro-abortion

He just prefers to wait until someone is already born to carry out the act. Right now about 900 young Americans have been "aborted" in his misbegotten oil war, as well as untold hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi civilian children. Iraqi children were raped (and filmed!) while their parents were forced to watch in order to extract information from them. These are Bush family values in action.

[stewert]

4. Check This Out.........

I found a great article that explains his no vote on the laci and conner law.

---------

In an ad released July 8 the Bush campaign attacks John Kerry for missing many Senate votes but still finding time " to vote against the Laci Peterson law that protects pregnant women from violence." It's literally accurate, but artfully worded to avoid tipping off viewers to the real controversy over the bill Kerry opposed -- the legal right to abortion.

Kerry (and nearly half the Senate) supported a different measure that would have had the same effect without making reference to an "unborn child." That measure -- called the "Motherhood Protection Act'' by its sponsors -- would have made it a separate offense to inflict violence that “causes the termination of a pregnancy or the interruptions of the normal course of pregnancy.” It failed in a 49-50 vote with 43 other Democrats supporting it, along with Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords and four Republicans.

When the Senate passed the "unborn victims" measure, Kerry was among 38 senators voting against it, including 2 Republicans.

http://factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=215

[emulatorloo]

6. It is a short jump from "Unborn Victims of Crime" to arresting women for

having an abortion. Basically as I understand it, that is the winger's agenda w that bill.

On edit: see post #4

[stewert]

7. Here is my Letter........

The Facts About John Kerry & Family Values

In a July 17 letter to the forum Alice Arnold
mis-stated John Kerry's family values positions.

John Kerry is pro-choice, not pro-abortion. He
neither supports or opposes abortion, he
thinks a woman has the constitutional right to
choose. This is the same view held by the
majority of Americans, a recent ABCNEWS/Washington
Post poll shows that 57% say abortion
should be legal in all or most cases.

Kerry did vote against the Laci Peterson law that
protects pregnant women from violence.

What Ms. Arnold did not tell you is John Kerry and
48 other Senators supported a different
measure called the "Motherhood Protection Act"
that would have had the same effect without
making reference to an "unborn child." It failed
in a 49-50 vote with 43 other Democrats
supporting it, along with four Republicans.

Ms. Arnold also stated that Democrats stand for
abortion, including partial birth abortion.
That is misleading and wrong. The vast majority of
Democrats are pro-choice and oppose partial-birth
or so-called late-term abortion, provided that
doctors have the ability to save a women’s life or
to act if her health is severely at risk. Pro-choice
Americans do not support abortion, they support
choice.

Steve Senti

[emulatorloo]

10. good letter!

clean clear and straightforward.

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Don't bother

The letter is a propagandist's art. It simply obfuscates the issue of family values with abortion. In this way, it loads the term family values with a meaning it shouldn't have.

I wouldn't worry about this too much. Anybody who believes this is voting for Bush anyway. It's preaching to the choir. If they want to waste their time preaching to the choir, then let them. Let's figure out ways to convince swing voters to come our way.

[sandnsea]

9. Yes we stand for women's right to life

We put a live woman over a cluster of cells. Women are not incubators. We have a right to make decisions about our bodies. Thinking women who don't have to be vulnerable and dependent on the mighty male by forced pregnancies. Scares the shit out of 'em. Fuck 'em.

[PaDem]

11. Easy pickings here

I think this is relatively easy to debunk. Simply put, is gutting the environment something that is "pro-family" or something that hurts families? Is the prescription drug card sham helping families or hurting them? Are manufacturing jobs in Ohio going overseas good for American families? Is cutting back on Head Start and Pelle Grants pro-family? How about cuts in funding for health insurance for children in working class families? The standard of living for middle and lower class families is regressing. I can't think of a more anti-family administration than this. It's all in the way you decide to define the debate. This woman has narrowly defined "family values".