Is McCain Shifting to the Center on Abortion?

John McCain is wonderful, is there no issue he doesn't change his tune on? I love how Johnny continues his SHAPE SHIFTING as if no one is going to notice.

A applaud him for doing this because it only reinforces his lack of mental stability. Keep it up, please!!!

I don't see him shifting his position so much as creating a kind of verbal fog about how much he'll pursue the issue as President, and giving a slight nod to pro-choice voters by focusing on state's rights, leaving open the possibility that many states will keep abortion legal.

Sill, so far as I can tell, you're the only person following McCain's views on abortion. I think that you're probably correct, that the choice of Palin is allowing his verbal nuances to go unnoticed except by you and a few others.

I would point out that on Progressive Revival and the Daily Kos, which I also follow, there has been some talk about the abortion issue separate from Sen. Obama's views on it. This tells me that many Democrats, such as myself, want a concerted effort to decrease abortions in this country if we're going to remain pro-choice. I could just be seeing what I want to see, but it is interesting.

taad - you are wrong about the "Freedom of Choice" act. Also see "Does Obama Support the Killing of Infants? (Kmiec on the Born Alive Bill)" for additional false statements that have been spreading about Obama

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2008/09/does-obama-support-the-killing.html

The “Freedom of Choice Act” does not increase any provision of Roe v Wade, which included the protection of a viable fetus.

The purpose of “Freedom of Choice Act” (S. 1173) is to prevent the Supreme Court from removing portions of Roe v. Wade, including protecting the health of a woman. It is not a difficult bill to read. I encourage everyone to read it. No action has been taken on the bill since 2007:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-1173

(4) The Roe v. Wade decision carefully balances the rights of women to make important reproductive decisions with the State's interest in potential life. Under Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the right to privacy protects a woman's decision to choose to terminate her pregnancy prior to fetal viability, with the State permitted to ban abortion after fetal viability except when necessary to protect a woman's life or health.

(9) Further threatening Roe, the Supreme Court recently upheld the first-ever Federal ban on an abortion procedure, which has no exception to protect a woman's health. The majority decision in Gonzales v. Carhart (05-380, slip op. April 18, 2007) and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America fails to protect a woman's health, a core tenet of Roe v. Wade. Dissenting in that case, Justice Ginsburg called the majority's opinion `alarming', and stated that, `[f]or the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman's health'. Further, she said, the Federal ban `and the Court's defense of it cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court'.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: (1) GOVERNMENT- The term `government' includes a branch, department, agency, instrumentality, or official (or other individual acting under color of law) of the United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State.

(2) STATE- The term `State' means each of the States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory or possession of the United States.

(3) VIABILITY- The term `viability' means that stage of pregnancy when, in the best medical judgment of the attending physician based on the particular medical facts of the case before the physician, there is a reasonable likelihood of the sustained survival of the fetus outside of the woman.

SEC. 4. INTERFERENCE WITH REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROHIBITED.

(a) Statement of Policy- It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman.

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not--
(1) deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose--
(A) to bear a child;
(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or
(2) discriminate against the exercise of the rights set forth in paragraph (1) in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.
(C) Civil Action- An individual aggrieved by a violation of this section may obtain appropriate relief (including relief against a government) in a civil action.

McCain is many things but a fool is not among them. He knows that if Roe is overturned, within two election cycles there would not be enough Republicans left in the Senate to sustain a filibuster against it being recodified in federal law.

Losing Roe would be the death of the Republican Party for a generation.