I have to admit that I’m somewhat shocked that the McCain/Palin campaign—-in addition to running with the “Obama is a terrorist” lie—-has picked up the “Obama supports infanticide” lie, and are putting it out in their robocalls. As John Cole says, here’s the results:
It’s interesting, because the infanticide slur is so obviously bullshit. I mean, so is the stuff about him being a secret Muslim or a terrorist, but at least in that case, you can say, well, terrorists exist and so do Muslims, and Obama has known many Muslims. (So has George W. Bush, though.) But people who think infanticide is an acceptable form of birth control are pretty much non-existent. Not to say that it doesn’t go on, but when it does, it’s usually inspired by extreme poverty and/or desperation (such as that shown by high school kids who’ve had abstinence impressed upon them so thoroughly that killing a baby seems like a safer bet than admitting they aren’t virgins anymore), and looks like babies dumped in dumpsters, not babies killed in hospital settings. (In the U.S., but the motivations—-poverty and desperation—-are stable everywhere infanticide happens.) And it’s a well-documented fact that women would rather not get pregnant in the first place, but if they do and they choose to abort, they prefer to get it done as soon as possible—-which is why the 30 year trend shows that women get abortions earlier on average than they used to, as new technologies make that possible.