Memo Misread: Elena Kagan Did Not Tell Clinton to Back Partial-Birth Abortion Ban

An interesting story from www.lifenews.com about Elena Kagan's abortion views. This follows this previous post about the Supreme Court nominee. For more interesting stories like this click here to follow this blog.


Memo Misread: Elena Kagan Did Not Tell Clinton to Back Partial-Birth Abortion Ban
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- To hear mainstream media outlets like the Associated Press and Washington Post tell the story, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan once urged President Bill Clinton to back a ban on partial-birth or late-term abortions. The take from the stories is that Kagan's rock solid pro-abortion views aren't that strong.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Post indicates "activists on both the left and the right seek to better understand how the solicitor general might rule on a right to privacy [read: unlimited abortion] if she is confirmed to the court."
"The answer to that question got a little bit clearer late Monday afternoon as the Associated Press reported on what it said was a 1997 memorandum authored by Kagan during the time she advised then-President Bill Clinton," the newspaper continued.
AP reports on a May 13, 1997 memo that the Post claims was a "compromise ban on late-term abortions: put forward by pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle.
"We recommend that you endorse the Daschle amendment in order to sustain your credibility on HR 1122 and prevent Congress from overriding your veto," Kagan and her boss, Bruce Reed, wrote in the memo.
The Post responds that the "revelation may help to mute right-wing groups who often use support for abortion rights as a way of attacking a nominee." Yet, the opposite is more likely when the full case is presented.
The Daschle measure was an attempt to draw attention from the partial-birth abortion ban that the Senate eventually approved on a 64-36 vote margin. The legislation, which purported to ban late-term abortions, would never have prevented a single one because of a health exception similar to the one that has allowed Roe v. Wade to result in 52 million unfettered abortions.
Full story at LifeNews.com