Kmiec calls himself pro-life. Yet he has supported (and still ardently supports) the most pro-abortion President in American history. He is willing to defend the famously pro-abortion Sebelius. He is willing to argue against the Mexico City policy. At least he still disagrees with President Obama on sacrificing human embryos for medical research ... but Kmiec is willing to overlook that sacrifice as a relatively small matter.
In what sense is Kmiec actually pro-life?
I'm not "bitter" about Kmiec, nor am I intending to attack him personally. I don't really know the guy. However, as a public figure, his actions & words invite public scrutiny. As I scrutinize those actions & words, I see very little which could qualify Kmiec as pro-life.
Words and actions matter. If a man speaks and acts in support of abortion rights, he simply isn't pro-life. I don't care how he describes himself. Judge Kmiec by the fruit that he has borne, not the label on the tree.
Naamanof VA3:06PM March 11, 2009
Legal professor Kmiec used 1500 words in his desperate defense. Below, in roughly 1/8 that amount, the legal maxim is proven - “A lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client.”
Kmiec admits Obama made a false campaign promise and blames the pro-life movement for it. Kmiec suggests that pro-lifers created a “scare” about FOCA that Kmiec says will not become law. Yet, it was Obama who during the campaign said to a Planned Parenthood group “the first thing I will do as President is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.”
Kmiec supports an immoral position elevating the economy over concerns of life when he says pro-life supporters should focus instead on “the larger picture of the economic and related cultural challenges.”
Kmiec praises Obama’s reversal of the Mexico City Policy despite admitting it supports groups who are not concerned about abortion. Kmiec does not honestly point out that federal funding could have been used for only health care and not abortion.
Kmiec, a Catholic, criticizes his church for disagreeing with Sebellius on the pro-abortion measures she supported. Heaping nothing but praise on Sebellius, his “regrets” can only be aimed at the Church when he says “I very much regret that on a few occasions, she and her bishop have not been in agreement.”
For the first time, Kmiec openly admits that he disingenuously portrayed Obama as pro-life despite knowing during Obama’s campaign that Obama was not totally so. Kmiec says that Obama’s stem cell policies, which admittedly cause “concern” because they are in conflict with faith and science, “are exactly as [Obama] campaigned”
Miss Vitoof CA2:16PM March 11, 2009
With the exception of the person who called him a "joke", which really refers to his point of view, I don't see anything "bitter" here. People are disagreeing with his point of view, and since he refuses to debate, this is the only means available.
Kmiec has said far worse about his opponents.
Bovertineof CA9:38AM March 11, 2009
The Pro-Life movement is in sorry shape, and it is mostly our own fault. Sure, the secular press will use anything they can to unfairly make us look narrow-minded, fanatical and extreme. But Kmiec's critics are making the case for them. I don't agree with everything Kmiec says, but the bitter, personal attacks against him are severely hurting the pro-life movement.
Katherineof MD9:06AM March 11, 2009
He is just like Obama. Uses a florish of sympthatic words, he says one thing but in reality he does another.
alphonso ibrahimof PA11:02PM March 10, 2009
Doug Kmiec is a complete joke. Most of his reported comments left me either laughing or speechless. How on earth can he say with a straight face that the notably pro-"choice" Sebelius "fully believes in the protection of human life at all its stages" and argue that she is furthering the pro-life cause by "address[ing] billing practices and medical record practices that needlessly raise the price and reduce the quality of health care"?
Modernizing medical records is certainly a commendable goal, but has NOTHING to do with the pro-life movement. Unless, of course, you want to render the term "pro-life" meaningless by saying that everything helping living human beings is "pro-life." This seems to be Kmiec's rationalization for having drunk the Kool-Aid of the most pro-abortion Administration in American history. His "arguments" defending his Kool-Aid drinking read as mere Obama talking points. One could scarcely guess from their content that the author was, or ever had been, anti-abortion.
Pro-liferof MO5:43PM March 10, 2009
Puffery is not "straight talk" and should not be confused with wisdom. Kmiec is always nebulous when dancing around tough issues and now seemingly only answers things plainly when supporting Obama's positions. I'd be interested to see him interviewed with tough follow up questions.
For instance,how can Kmiec say that based on his faith and as a scientific matter, he is "concerned" with the use of terminated embryonic life for scientific uses (wasn't that what the Nazis did with the murdered Jews in the Holocaust) and in the same paragraph Kmiec says "I applaud the President's desire to separate science from politics." Excuse me professor. I'm no legal genius, but isn't that what you "smart guys" call a non sequitur?
W. Northof CA4:23PM March 10, 2009
By paying to make embryos, as authorized in his executive order, Obama has ignored the science and put women's lives at risk.
The UN specifically sited 'exploitation of poor women' when it issued it's request for international moritorium on all forms of cloning. Researchers are turning to the cheap eggs of poor women from around the world, cheapening the worth of these women at the same time - for they are over drugged to produce years of eggas at one time and then cast aside by the egg-brokers when the complications arise (and they can/do die from the procedure) ... after all they took the $200 and signed the consent form (after being beaten by family members to get the money).
If Obama cared about women, he would ensure that neither eggs nor women are commodified in this endeavour by making sure eggs can't be purchased and, ideally, doctors retrieve only the mature egg the woman would naturally produce ... even for IVF, since most clinics are tied to universities doing stem cell research making insentives to retrieve and fertilize more eggs than a woman could possibly use.
Octomom is the proof this happens. The 6 she had implanted were 'extras' from previous in vitro. What kind of madman doctor harvested and fertilized that many eggs.
The whole industry needs to be regulated. Most progressive countries forbid paying for eggs and are moving towards 'natural IVF', where only 1-2 eggs are retrieved, fertilized, and implanted. The results are healthier mothers and babies, at 1/3 the cost.
Minervaof MI4:09PM March 10, 2009
this man was involved in wasted years working for Reagan and Bush before he "matured".
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Naaman of VA 3:06PM March 11, 2009
Miss Vito of CA 2:16PM March 11, 2009
Bovertine of CA 9:38AM March 11, 2009
Katherine of MD 9:06AM March 11, 2009
alphonso ibrahim of PA 11:02PM March 10, 2009
Pro-lifer of MO 5:43PM March 10, 2009
W. North of CA 4:23PM March 10, 2009
Minerva of MI 4:09PM March 10, 2009
Muser of NM 3:45PM March 10, 2009