Does the Platform Include Anything but Abortion Rights?
By Cheryl C. Malandrinos
Rightgrrl Contributor
September 12, 2000
I have spent the past few weeks entangled in the Republican and Democratic conventions. Both were quite a show. George W. Bush's "No child left behind" to Al Gore's - wait a second what exactly was his motto - I can't seem to remember it. That must be because whatever that motto was took a back seat to the most important issue on the Democratic ticket - reproductive rights. Reproductive rights is a term that has always amazed me. When did it become a right instead of a crime to kill another human being?
There were many speakers at the DNC. There were many issues addressed. However, the only issue that appeared to stir the crowd in the least was abortion rights. Dianne Feinstein brought up gun violence and the need for safe schools. You would expect thunderous applause and cheering, but there was only a mild response. Good old Teddy Kennedy mentioned the patients bill of rights, this elicited even less of a response. When any speaker brought up abortion rights the crowd suddenly found their way out of their comas to applaud and scream. They practically knocked one another over with their enthusiasm.
Perhaps the most amazing speech concerning the women's right to choose came from the prospective senator from New York and current First Lady Hillary Clinton. While thanking the American people for the time she and her loving husband Bill had been allowed to serve this country, she discussed the many things people should remember about the past eight years. A key item in this oration was that the number of foster parents and adoptions is up since this administration took office. Then somehow in the same speech Mrs. Clinton stated the importance of protecting reproductive rights.
The irony in my mind is that the party of education, the party that is for the children, the party that is out to help families with its social programs, is also the party of partial-birth abortion. The party that considers halting hate crimes and domestic violence, and increasing gun control legislation so vital to its fiber, finds nothing wrong with giving women the right to decide which babies should live and which should be violently and painfully extracted from their mother's wombs.
It is more of a concern however, that this one topic transformed a rather mind numbed crowd into a group of cheerleaders. For the sake of the unborn and all humanity we better hope that Dick Cheney was right and that it is "time for them to go".
This article copyright © 2000 Cheryl C. Malandrinos and may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of its author. All rights reserved.