Jimmy Carter: Jesus Christ would not approve of abortions
I never have believed that Jesus Christ would approve of abortions and that was one of the problems I had when I was president, having to uphold Roe v. Wade.
And I did everything I could to minimize the need for abortions. I made it easy to adopt children, for instance, that were unwanted and also initiated the program called Women and Infant Children, or WIC program, that’s still in existence now. But except for the times when a mother’s life is in danger or when a pregnancy is caused by rape or incest I would certainly not or never have approved of any abortions….
~ Former president Jimmy Carter during an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show via Hot Air]
Mar.30, 2012 6:00 am |
Political anti-life bias |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Jimmy Carter is exactly what is wrong with the abortion debate. People who think abortion is wrong but don’t have the courage to stand up for their beliefs because they would rather be thought of as not being controversial than doing the right thing. It’s so easy to think this way when unborn babies don’t have power in the mainstream media to shame you for letting them die for profit, unlike Planned Parenthood which can accuse you of hating women.
If you turn your lips inside out, you can look just like Jimmy Carter.
Well at least all the unborn children whose limbs are being ripped off can take comfort in the fact that Mr. Carter and so many others are personally opposed to it and all. That ought to brighten up their death a little
While I don’t approve of Jimmy Carter’s definition of when abortion is acceptable, I do appreciate that he realizes that the pro-abortion stance of the Democratic Party has caused some people to leave the party. I’m one of them. I’m a person without a party now. Oh, the Republicans think I’m one of them now, but that’s just because I have to choose in order to vote in a primary.
So Jimmy, what makes babies resulting from rape or incest ok to kill?
…But except for the times when a mother’s life is in danger or when a pregnancy is caused by rape or incest I would certainly not or never have approved of any abortions.
“Except”..so you DO approve of SOME abortions…so you DO approve of abortion. Typical political double-speak.…
The rest of my comment disappeared! I had said Babies conceived by rape or incest are THE SAME as babies conceived any other way. They’re still BABIES, and don’t deserve to die because of how they were conceived.
I find Jimmy Carter’s statements and their timing very suspicious. Has he figured out that Obama has started a war on the Catholic Church and that the Democrats will lose votes this November? I do not trust anything Carter says, he has been an enemy of truth and Israel his entire political career.
Another indication that public opinion is turning more and more against the outdated and violent practice of abortion.
Maybe our nation is growing a collective conscience. If so, expect more public figures to echo the same sentiments as Carter, which might be gutless but at least move in the right direction.
DemocRATs only start lying when their lips start moving.
Another aging democRAT attempting to re-hab his legacy before he assumes room temperature.
It’s not receiving rave reviews here on this side of eternity.
I doubt it will fare any better on the other side.
And of course there will be video of President Jimmy Carter addressing the assembled throngs of pro-lifers at the March for Life each of the four years of his reign of error.
Mr Carter needs to meet Juda Myer and Rebecca Kiess;ling and tell them, because they were the result of rape. they didn’t deserve to live.
I’ve never much cared whether people are morally or religiously opposed to abortion, just as long as they don’t let that conviction animate them to demand anything more than the right to personally abstain. I think most people who think of themselves as “pro-life” have this understanding.
aaaand…you think incorrectly. But I’m not really surprised. If one is morally/religiously opposed to abortion, you have to take a second to think WHY they are opposed to abortion. If abortion was a decision that ONLY affected a woman, then I don’t think anyone would oppose abortion, would they? However, since the opposition to abortion comes from the fact that the life of a living, gestating child is ended in the procedure, personal opposition and abstinence is not sufficient.
Either abortion kills a human being or it does not. What other reason could these people possibly have for being “personally opposed” to abortion? They recognize that the unborn are human beings and yet deny them their right to life because they are cowards and feel awkward telling people not to kill their own son or daughter. They are vile people, even more so than people who just delude themselves into thinking a fetus is not a human being.
Joan, that’s like me saying, a diet of nothing but meth and heroin would be disastrous for my health, but I really can’t make the same distinction for you. If you live in a world where any kind of life is negotiable, then snort away. It may help you live with what you’ve deemed normal and righteous.
BTW Jimmy Carter could have done more, the peacekeeper that he is. He chose not to.
I’m glad that he understands not only that abortion is wrong, but that one party (his own) is insane on this issue. They support not only abortion on demand, but also third trimester abortions, partial-birth abortions, abortions without informed consent, secret abortions done on minors, sex-selective abortions, and taxpayer funded abortions. These are all things that even most self-described pro-choice Americans oppose, often by huge margins. There are some brave pro-life Democrats, but the party leadership is very pro-abortion. Carter’s interview is certainly a breath of fresh air after hearing the ridiculous “war on women” and dominionist conspiracy theories from countless left-leaning personalities.
I agree with others here that he’s wrong on rape and incest cases. Such a stance requires either that a baby conceived in rape is less of a human being than one conceived in consensual sex, that babies are really just a punishment for having sex, that being pro-life is only something you do when it’s politically convenient, or that it’s acceptable to kill an innocent person in order to reduce a rape victim’s suffering. Although rape is a terrible crime and its victims need and deserve all of the support we can give them, none of the previous four things are compatible with a consistent pro-life position. However, this position is in no way unique to Carter. Most pro-life Republican politicians also have exceptions for rape and incest.
My main objection to his position is what he said about having to uphold the Supreme Court’s decisions. These are not the kinds of things that a capable president should think or say. Carter should have taken Lincoln’s words to heart, namely that if the government policy becomes “irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court…the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.” Franklin D. Roosevelt also took a hard stand against judicial activism when the Supreme Court kept striking down his policies. Carter’s successor, while he certainly made mistakes, criticized the Roe v. Wade decision every chance he got, even though his advisors thought it would hurt him politically. I like Jimmy Carter and admire the charity work he’s done, but he missed his chance to defend the unborn when he was in the most important office of all. That’s not something I can respect.
I just don’t understand what people think makes him so different from presidents like Bush and Reagan, etc. On the pro-life issue, at least. Reagan liked to talk about abortion, but talk is cheap.
Sir Thomas More (and I hope you’re enjoying eternity and not witnessing any of this Sir Thomas) said: if a statesman forsakes his private conscience for his public duty, he leads his country by a short route to chaos! And here we are! Thanks, Mr. President!
Jack, when you are the president, you have a limited amount of political capital and you have to choose how to spend it. Reagan spent a great deal of his on an issue that he took amazing amounts of heat for. The difference is, (if) Carter and Reagan both were convicted in their hearts about abortion and only one of them used his bully pulpit to speak out loud for those babies. Who knows what kind of good it did? But it was better than saying nothing.
So it’s really just the talk? They did the exact same thing legally to stop abortion (nothing) but since Reagan talked about how much he disliked it, he is lionized as some sort of pro-life hero? That’s ridiculous to me. I can see why you would disagree, but I think talk is incredibly cheap.
Not if your words mean something.
So you know that his words were sincere and it meant something, but when Carter says the same kind of stuff his words mean nothing? Just wondering. I am absolutely sick of “pro-life” politicians who say words that make pro-lifers happy and never do anything about it, and I think it’s just silly to act like these politicians are some awesome pro-life leaders. I have much more respect for the Congressmen and women who are pushing through measures to defund PP and such than I do for Reagan, or anyone else who talked, talked and talked about it to get votes and never did anything.
Record of Accomplishment
Still, Reagan did many things to support pro-life causes. Among them:
He supported legislation that would allow for a challenge of Roe vs. Wade.
He adopted the “Mexico City Policy” halting federal aid to private groups promoting abortions abroad.
His administration cut off funding to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities because the global agency violated U.S. law by participating in China’s mandatory abortion program.
His administration adopted regulations prohibiting federally funded “family planning clinics” from promoting abortion as birth control.
The Reagan White House blocked use of federal money for research using the tissue of aborted babies.
It helped win approval of the “Danforth Amendment,” which said federally funded educational institutions could not be guilty of “sex discrimination” for refusing to pay for abortions.
Reagan himself introduced the issue of fetal pain into the public debate over abortion.
His administration was key in enactment of laws protecting the right to life of handicapped newborns.
Reagan designated a National Sanctity of Human Life Day, to recognize the value of life at all stages.
From Newsmax.com—for Jack.
Well cool, it doesn’t change the fact that just as many babies died during Carter’s presidency as they did in Reagan’s presidency. http://www.nrlc.org/news/2003/NRL01/randy.html. The high for the eighties was in 1988 (the year I was born, kinda creepy). Reagan also signed a “Therapeutic Abortion Bill” with language that allowed a ton of not necessary abortions, when he was California’s governor.
It might just irritate me, since we have had presidents and Congress people oh so opposed to abortion since before I was born, and even with all their talk and preventing foreign aid, they don’t make a dent in actually saving any babies here. It just seems like a lot of smoke and no fire.
He did, when he was Governor, and he came to regret it and he evolved as a man, leader, and Christian. Some of us come late in life to the Prolife side. And you have to give Reagan credit: he did what he most possibly could, and he kept the issue in the handful of those which defined who he was. If he could have done more, I can totally imagine him doing it.
Until the Constitution is changed, Jack, the truly effectual pro-life warriors are we, ourselves, who are raising our sons and daughters with the belief that life is (I was going to say sacred here, but I know you are not a believer!) worth protecting at every level. But it is important to elect a man or a woman who stands with us, because that tells me almost everything I need to know about them.
Goodness, you were born in 1988??? I dated a house painted that summer because he had long blonde hair like Andre Agassi!! I have sweaters older than you!! LOL!
Jimmy Carter has GOT to learn that if you’re going to be President and do little to nothing about abortion, the only way you’re going to get away with it is if you say you are a Republican and talk a good game.
Isn’t there a playbook for these folks?
The thing with Carter, though, is I believe him when he says he came to understand a major disconnect with following Jesus and accepting abortion. The thing I want to know is: what kept him silent if he is so sold out to Jesus and the idea of peace?
Both Bushes were disappointments, but they tried to run away from even talking about the issue. I didn’t really expect much. If you are a man like Carter who has consistently used his faith in God as a springboard for much of what he does, then I guess I would also ask, how can you live with that? You had the mic for 4 years.
“Both Bushes were disappointments, but they tried to run away from even talking about the issue. I didn’t really expect much. If you are a man like Carter who has consistently used his faith in God as a springboard for much of what he does, then I guess I would also ask, how can you live with that? You had the mic for 4 years. ”
See, I don’t know about Bush number one, but GW certainly did claim his faith for all sorts of stuff, and still didn’t do much about abortion. I don’t know, it just irritates me how much Republicans talk and how little they actually do about it. At least that seems to be changing at the state level.
And lol, Courtnay, my age is probably a factor there, actually. I can’t remember a time when abortion wasn’t THE hot button political issue, but no one seems to have done much legally. :(
Jack, I concede about GW. I imagine that 9/11 and all the war planning were taking up a bunch of his attention. But there is no excuse–he certainly could have done more. But except for talking about it and appointing Supreme Court Justices, there doesn’t seem to be a lot a president can do to actually stop one abortion.
If I am elected as president, can I be like, the Good Twin version of Andrew Jackson, and use my SCOTUS-ignoring powers for good, rather than evil, by ending abortion?
Couldn’t have said it better, Chris. I tip my hat to his seemingly earnest faith and his noble humanitarian work, but to me Carter represents the epitome of cowardice, unless he henceforth blasts his party over and over again for their militant support of this injustice.
I don’t care how many govt programs he enacted, he has done absolutely NOTHING to curtail abortion over the years. NOTHING. He seems to insert himself every so often into the national debate about foreign policy, Israel, and healthcare, but has he ever gone to bat for ANY pro-life law that isn’t related to govt-funding of more welfare? Nope. He has vigorously supported some of the most rabid pro-abortion politicians, not least of which is Obama. He’s under some quasi-Christian utopian delusion that if we just take enough from the rich and redistribute it to the poor, abortion will not be necessary. Does anybody know how many of his judicial appointees were pro-life? I doubt very many if any.
Much as I’d like to applaud him for FINALLY saying this, it will be a while before I trust him.
Jack, I agreed with everything you said and I feel the SAME WAY. Talk is CHEAP. Not just for presidents, but for every politician. 54 million dead babies…and pro-life politicians have done…???? What exactly?
What kind of loser would have wasted their first vote for president on this guy?
Oh yeah. :(
“ never have believed that Jesus Christ would approve of abortions and that was one of the problems I had when I was president, having to uphold Roe v. Wade.”
Obviously, not enough to be an OUTSPOKEN OPPONENT OF ABORTION AND LEAVE THE DEMOCRAT PARTY FOR THEIR PRO-ABORTION PLATFORM!!!
Shame on you, Jimmy Carter for not using your political platform as an advocate for the unborn. Your words are empty! YOU have spent your entire life as a DEMOCRAT aka the party of ABORTION RIGHTS !!! Wake up people, there are distinctions and the record proves it!!!
For those of you ragging on President George W. Bush, you need to due your research and examine the facts of what he did for th unborn during his presidency. Quit being ignorant, inform yourselves and speak the TRUTH!!!
This is not to say that Republicans are doing all that they should but I will give them credit for standing mostly with prolifers on the abortion issue instead of being “the party of death” aka demoRATS.
Carter definitely could have spoken out boldly against abortion. It would have made a difference if he had used his office to just freakin’ speak out. The pro aborts would have had no place to go because the president is the leader of the party and he can use his position as a bully pulpit. And on a matter of life and death, he should. If he weren’t so easily cowed, it would have made a big difference.
Wow, Jack, you were born in 1988?
I have a young friend your age whom I tried to convince to be more sympathetic to the pro-life cause. Me and her mother were pregnant at the same time. She lived. You lived. My child is the 33% that didn’t. My young friend was absolutely unmoved by anything I said. It breaks my heart. Her anti-life facebook posts are brutal. And her mother is an awesome, generous, kind, funny woman. Apples don’t always fall near the tree. Some roll away.
But YOU give me hope!
ninek,
sometimes it is good that apples roll away. Jack is proof! <3
Aw, thanks ladies. :)
Ninek I always find it super depressing when people in my generation are pro-choice. I mean, haven’t we seen enough of this already? Anyone born after Roe could have been killed, I just don’t get how that doesn’t freak them out at the very least.
JackBorsch says:
April 2, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Aw, thanks ladies.
Ninek I always find it super depressing when people in my generation are pro-choice. I mean, haven’t we seen enough of this already? Anyone born after Roe could have been killed, I just don’t get how that doesn’t freak them out at the very least.
(Denise) What about all the abortions before Roe v. Wade?
What about all the abortions in countries in which abortion is illegal?
I’ve read that the country with the lowest abortion rate is Holland. It’s legal there in the first trimester.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Jimmy Carter’s quote is one of those steps.