Bob Dole’s position may be best summed up by the remarks that he made, supported by his voting record, at a Family Forum event in Iowa:
“When I am President, my first full day in office will be declared American Family Day. As President, I will rescind every one of those acts of federal coercion that Clinton enacted on his first day in office.
“In a Dole administration, abortion on demand will no longer be the policy of the federal government. As long as we hold the White House, federal agencies will be in the business of licensing drugs that promote life, not death. And our federal tax dollars will not be used to promote abortion overseas.
“As your President, I will sign an executive order to prohibit federal funding for destructive experimentation on living human embryos.
“We can talk all day about children’s issues, as liberals often do. But it will be just that — hollow talk — if we don’t have enough love in our hearts to care for the most innocent among us. All our talk about a less violent, more caring society will come to nothing unless we protect the sanctity of human life. Until the day comes when we overturn Roe v. Wade, why can’t we require parental consent before a minor obtains an abortion? Why can’t we stop partial-birth abortions? Why can’t we get the government out of the business of promoting abortions? The truth is, we can — and with the right leadership in the White House — we will.
“The Oval Office should be a place of moral leadership for America. But, for the past three years, it has not been. The policies of the federal government should be rooted in the values embraced by the American people. But our current President has advocated policies that undermine those values. The executive orders he signed were among the first examples.
“Abortion is not an issue of when life begins, it’s a question of when love begins. It’s a question of what kind of people we are and aspire to become. A spirit of hope is evident across America — in crisis pregnancy centers, in groups finding homes for children, by churches and synagogues caring for unwed mothers, and by teenagers promoting abstinence. This will be the spirit of the Dole administration, for this is the spirit of America.”
An actual count of Mr. Dole’s Senate votes on abortion has been made by two contrasting organizations, which have given almost identical results. The National Abortion Rights Action League attributes 105 pro-life votes to Dole out of a total of 111. The National Right to Life Committee gives him 106 out of 112. These two compilations result in a 95.5% pro-life voting record over the last two decades.
Jack Kemp, as his running mate, has a 100% pro-life voting record.
Bill Clinton’s position on abortion is clear based on his actions as President:
He repealed regulations which prohibited counseling and referral for abortions in federal family planning clinics.
He repealed the Reagan/Bush directives that prohibited abortions in military facilities overseas.
He repealed Reagan/Bush’s Mexico City policy which had denied overseas family planning groups assistance if they “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.”
He directed the Dept. of Health & Human Services and the FDA to expedite licensing of the abortion pill RU 486.
He supported the repeal of the Hyde amendment, but Congress passed it over his objections; however, he did get a rape-incest exception.
He tried to again use your tax money to pay for abortions in the District of Columbia. Congress refused.
Under Reagan and Bush, your tax money had not been used to pay for abortions for government employees. Clinton wanted you to pay for them, but Congress refused.
The Helms Amendment, since 1973, forbids the government to actually pay for abortions overseas. Clinton would like to repeal this amendment.
Health Care — Hillary Clinton’s socialized medicine included making abortion-on-demand a federally mandated, tax paid “service” in every region of every state. It did not pass.
Clinton supported FOCA, the Freedom of Choice Act, which would have wiped out even minor state restrictions on abortions. FOCA did not pass.
He has pushed for international legalization of abortion through the United Nations. And with this, heavy lobbying and specific pressure on underdeveloped countries at the Cairo, Beijing and Turkey conferences.
He supported funding for the United Nations’ fund for population activity. This is the group that supports the coercive abortion policy and program in China.
He supported experimentation on live, embryonic human babies — he appointed a National Institute of Health advisory panel, every member of which supported destructive embryo experimentation.
He has made strongly pro-abortion appointments from the highest to the lowest levels of government.
He vetoed the bill to ban partial-birth, late-term abortions.
Vice President Al Gore shares Clinton’s strong pro-abortion position.
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