Planned Parenthood Endorses Barack Obama

While he was in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama toed Planned Parenthood's line and voted according to their strategy on proposed abortion measures.

In a July 17th, 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America), Sen. Barack Obama said that he would "not yield" on the issue of a woman's right to have an abortion. He "attacked the Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal partial-birth abortion ban and the nomination of Supreme Court justices who favor overturning Roe v. Wade," reports the Catholic News Service.

In September 2007, The Tribune Company's "The Swamp" reported that presidential candidate Obama endorsed the opening of a controversial new Planned Parenthood facility in Aurora Illinois, saying, "The proposed center will serve the growing population in a part of the state where access to a full range of reproductive health care services is lacking."

On Monday, The Swamp reported that Planned Parenthood returned Obama's consistent endorsements of the group's efforts by throwing their full weight behind his presidential candidacy. This is only the second time Planned Parenthood has ever endorsed a candidate.

Writer James Oliphant says that the group's timing couldn't be better, because in an interview this past weekend with Jan Crawford Greenburg of ABC News, Obama seemed to say that there are some late-term abortions that should be prevented - a distinct departure from the 'all abortions, all the time' Democratic Party line.

Obama said in the July 2007 speech that, "There will always be people, many of goodwill, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield." But in the ABC interview, Obama "said that for a woman to receive a late-term abortion, past the stage of viability, she must show some sort of physical condition necessitating the termination of the pregnancy," writes Oliphant.

This obviously didn't bother Planned Parenthood, however, which said of Obama, in a statement:

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is proud to endorse Barack Obama for president of the United States. He is a passionate advocate for women's rights, and has a long and consistent record of standing up for women's health care.

As president, he will improve access to quality health care for women, support and protect a woman's right to choose, support comprehensive sex education to keep our young people healthy and safe, and invest in prevention programs, including family planning services and breast cancer screenings.