Get the Facts about the Real McCain

Hi everyone! Welcome to our web chat. I'm Elizabeth Shipp, Political Director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, but you can call me Beth.

Sen. McCain has been more upfront about his anti-choice views during this race than even President Bush was in either of his two presidential elections, by explicitly calling for the overturn of Roe v. Wade!

In a May 2005 article that ran in The New Yorker, Gary Bauer – a social conservative politician who endorsed McCain in his 2000 presidential bid – is quoted as saying, “I wanted a commitment from either George Bush or John McCain that if elected he would appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court... Bush said he had no litmus test, and his judges would be strict constructionists. But McCain, in private, assured me he would appoint pro-life judges.”

Along those lines, McCain has voted for a series of anti-choice justices including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and Chief Justice John Roberts.

You can go here: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/mccain_fact_sheet.pdf to read more about his abysmal record.

Actually, McCain is not in favor of all pro-active birth control, based on his record. Not only is he absolutely anti-choice, this is a guy who voted to terminate Title X family-planning programs. Title X provides low-income women with birth control and cancer screenings. That's pretty pathetic.

John McCain has never supported any preventative legislation like the morning-after pill that would actually reduce the need for abortion, so I doubt he cares much about making morning-after pills available during the week, much less the weekend.

Thank you for the great question, Catharine. You are not alone in feeling confused by the two stories McCain weaves – one through his "moderate maverick" rhetoric and the other through his voting record.

But let me make it clear that John McCain is staunchly anti-choice, and has been throughout his tenure in Congress. Since coming to Washington in 1983, John McCain has voted anti-choice 125 times in 130 opportunities.

He has consistently voted anti-choice on legislation related to abortion, birth control, and sex education, and has never cosponsored or supported legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy or reduce the need for abortion.

Lynn, I beg to differ that choice is not one of the most important issues facing our country today. For the last eight years, we have seen a woman's right to choose attacked by President Bush, his anti-choice cronies in Congress, and now at the Supreme Court, too.

A new president will likely have the opportunity to reverse the disastrous course Bush has taken with respect to judicial appointments, contraception, and safe, legal abortion. So many women across this country have no access to exercise their right to choose because of the policies put in place by this president. If John McCain is elected, we can expect the same, or worse.

I would argue that either Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama would be a much better president for women than John McCain.

Actually, in an interview with Tim Russert in 2000, McCain said he would support a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions. Mr. Russert asked him multiple times to confirm that he understood the question, and each time, McCain replied, “Yes, sir.”

So, I'm sorry to say, Marsha, that McCain's own words confirm he would support a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

Senators Obama and Clinton are both fully pro-choice and have been endorsed by NARAL Pro-Choice America in their previous races for U.S. Senate. You can access their records here:

Obama's record:
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/statements/obama.html

Clinton's record:
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/statements/clinton.html

Ann Coulter calling Hillary more conservative is like me calling Ann Coulter politically relevant – it just doesn't hold up to inspection.

The bottom line is this: McCain has voted anti-choice 125 out of 130 times on choice-related votes. He is neither a moderate nor a maverick when it comes to choice. And, you should know that Sens. Clinton and Obama are both fully pro-choice. Thanks, Eric.

Dan, what a great question. The prospects for electing more pro-choice candidates across the country looks very promising right now. We have a host of fully pro-choice candidates running for U.S. Senate, House, and, of course, the presidency.

In fact, I'm excited to say that we're seeing more pro-choice candidates this year than ever before. Maybe it's because candidates know that NARAL helped pro-choice candiates win several competitive seats in 2006 and contributed more than $550,000 to their campaigns. We're prepared to do even more this year to increase the number of pro-choice House and Senate members.

We're proud that our two most recent victories were in Illinois 14 with Bill Foster and Indiana 7 with Andre Carson. Both of these candidates won special elections and choice played a role in their victories. Expect to see even more pro-choice victories come November.

Hi Kathy. Thanks for bringing this up. The president has tremendous power and influence and can use the White House either to protect or undermine women’s freedom and privacy. For example, the president nominates Supreme Court justices, issues executive orders, and vetoes legislation.

The president also influences appropriations and nominates cabinet officers such as the U.S. Attorney General, who has the power to prosecute perpetrators of clinic violence, among other things.

We can't risk another 4 years on McCain, whose voting record makes him one of the most consistently anti-choice politicians in Congress.

Check out our Protect & Elect description to learn how we will work to elect more pro-choice leaders to Congress: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/about-protect-elect.html

Your guess is as good as mine, Wendy.

As far as I can tell, people are really buying into the image McCain has created for himself – the role of the “moderate maverick” who is willing to buck his party on certain issues.

Unfortunately for pro-choice Americans, “moderate” does not mean pro-choice when it comes to John McCain. Not only does he oppose legal abortion care, he’s even against commonsense prevention measures like birth control and sex education. And there’s nothing “moderate” about opposing birth control.

I'd say it's a tough one, Debra, but unfortunately for John McCain, his 25-year record is chock-full of not only anti-choice abortion votes, but anti-prevention votes, too. Just a few examples:

-Voted to terminate Title X family-planning program

-Voted to de-fund family-planning clinics nationwide

-Voted against insurance coverage for birth control

-Voted against medically accurate sex education

You can see McCain's full anti-choice record here:

http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/statements/mccain.html

Hi Kirsten, I’d tell her these three important facts:

1) McCain has a 25-year record of voting against women’s freedom and privacy

2) McCain has voted anti-choice 125 times in 130 opportunities and

3) McCain has even gone so far as to call for the overturn of Roe v. Wade – something that even President Bush hasn’t done!

Then I’d direct her to www.MeetTheRealMcCain.com and tell her to read all about McCain and his anti-choice record and statements.

Well, Wendy, when it comes to emergency contraception, McCain has voted anti-choice. Period.

Here are two examples -- first, he opposed legislation that would have improved access to emergency contraception, as well as required insurance coverage of prescription birth control, and provided more women with prenatal health care.

Second, he voted against legislation that would have developed programs to increase awareness about emergency contraception, invested in insurance coverage of prescription birth control, promoted family-planning services, and implemented teen pregnancy prevention programs.

We're worried because we've heard that argument before. Remember George W. Bush? Voters didn't think he would pay much attention to choice, either. Wow. How wrong can you be?

NARAL is worried because John McCain has gone even further than George W. Bush did when he was running in 2000 and 2004. McCain has specifically called for the overturn of Roe v. Wade -- something even Bush didn't do when he was running for president.

In 2000, it's interesting to note that prominent anti-choice zealot Gary Bauer supported John McCain over George W. Bush. In an article published in the New Yorker in 2005, Bauer said he supported McCain over Bush because John McCain promised him that if elected he would appoint pro-life judges.

With the very real prospect that the next president will appoint additional Supreme Court justices, that scares the hell out of me.

Now you know why ALL of us should be worried.

Hi Barbara. McCain voted to confirm 4 anti‐choice U.S. Supreme Court nominees, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito (both nominated by President Bush) and Clarence Thomas.

All three voted to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban, a law that criminalizes some abortion services, with no exception to protect a woman’s health, and carries up to a two‐year prison sentence for doctors!

McCain also voted to confirm six other anti-choice lower-court nominees, including Priscilla Owens and Charles Pickering.

I hope you spread the word about this kind of info to your friends.

Thanks for your question, Jeane. While it would be impossible to list out all of the 125 anti-choice votes McCain has cast anti-choice votes during this one-hour webchat, I can direct you to our 14-page profile on McCain which lists each bill and the accompanying bill number: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/mccain_fact_sheet.pdf.

But again, McCain has voted anti-choice 125 times in 130 opportunities! I know I’ve repeated that fact many times, but it's because I agree with you that it’s important that pro-choice Americans understand how anti-choice McCain really is.

Stephen, trust me, we do a lot of screaming here too when it comes to McCain's record and the pass the press is giving him. I mean, seriously, this is a guy who couldn't even answer a question about birth control and whether or not information about it should be offered to teens.

Here's the link to that story:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/mccain-stumbles-on-hiv-prevention/

If you check out our site, www.MeetTheRealMcCain.com, you'll see our 14-page profile of John McCain and every anti-choice action he's taken.

You can write a letter to the editor; call into talk radio programs; tell your friends and family to take action, too. It will take all of us working together to hold the media accountable for accurately covering John McCain. Thanks for the question.

Hey Christina. We can’t be sure, and that’s why NARAL Pro-Choice America is working so hard to elect a pro-choice president!

Among his 125 anti-choice votes, McCain has voted to cut off funding for the Title X family-planning program, which provides low-income women with health care services ranging from birth control to breast-cancer screenings. He even supports disproven “abstinence-only” programs. We simply cannot trust McCain with our reproductive health care.

Wow. With so many fights on so many fronts, it's hard to say which one scares me more: an anti-choice president, an anti-choice majority in the House, or not having the 60 votes we need in the Senate to stop bad legislation and judicial nominees.

Unfortunately, the way the federal government works, all three of these scenarios are a threat to Roe. In 2008, we know that we need a pro-choice president to fix the damage done by George W. Bush. Likewise, we need more pro-choice House members to increase Speaker Pelosi's pro-choice numbers in the House. Finally, we simply must have a 60-vote majority in the U.S. Senate to put the brakes on potential anti-choice judicial nominees and senators like John McCain (who I'm confident will be back in the Senate in 2009) who consistently vote against women and their reproductive choices.

NARAL Pro-Choice America will be fighting on all three fronts this election cycle and hope you'll join us in that fight.

Kim, you and I seriously need to talk. :)

I know it may be hard to believe that anyone could be worse than George W. Bush, but John McCain IS worse. He's worse because he tries to hide behind the label of "moderate maverick." It always scares me when a politician tries to hide his record because he thinks voters will be duped into believing he is something he's not.

Let's be clear: John McCain is neither a moderate nor a maverick. He's just plain wrong.

Anna, I'm sorry to tell you that you may need to pull your kids out of public schools if John McCain is elected president. Just joking, but it really is that serious.

John McCain has voted against the entire Prevention First legislation. This includes voting against teen-pregnancy prevention, medically accurate sex education, and the ability for teens to access birth control and confidential health services. He fully supports abstinence-only policies that have been disproven and are many times factually inaccurate.

I point you back to the New York Times story I referenced earlier, where John McCain didn't even know where he stood on contraception, medically accurate sex ed, and abstinence-only programs.

Make sure to let your friends know that their kids and yours deserve better than a John McCain presidency.

Katie, I agree with you that voters are fed up with President Bush and most Republicans in Congress. However, that's not to say we shouldn't be worried about McCain's chances in this election.

We've seen Independent voters supporting McCain in primaries and caucuses across the country. The longer the Democratic race goes on, the more time John McCain has to make his case to these Independent voters without having to answer to a Democratic nominee.

NARAL Pro-Choice America knows that the eventual Democratic nominee for president needs these Independent voters, as well as pro-choice Republican voters, to win in the fall. We're focusing on McCain now so that his appeal to these voters will not go unanswered.

Oh, hell to the no! :)

McCain said on January 30, 2000 that he supported a constitutional amendment banning abortion. He said so on Meet the Press when Tim Russert asked him if he supported such an amendment. Russert went even further to ask if he understood that before Roe v. Wade, hundreds of thousands of women were forced to undergo unsafe abortion procedures. McCain's response? "I understand." And when Russert informed him that many women died because abortion was illegal, McCain again said, "I understand."

Finally, Russert asked, "And here you are, want to bring that back." McCain answered, "perhaps."

So he's never really straddled this issue. He always has been, and always will be, anti-choice.

Great, I will take one more.

Jenny, NARAL Pro-Choice America has not yet endorsed a candidate for president. We are fortunate that we have two fully pro-choice candidates running. Both Senators Clinton and Obama would protect and defend a woman's right to choose, if elected president.

We think that our political power is best used going after John McCain instead of choosing between two exceptional pro-choice candidates.

That was quick! Thanks, everyone, for joining us today -- can you tell how much I love talking about just how bad John McCain is?

You can find additional information about McCain and his record at www.MeetTheRealMcCain.com. Thanks again for joining us.

All the best,

Beth