Jesus Would Not Approve of Abortion, Says Jimmy Carter
Former President Jimmy Carter told The Christian Post that he believes Jesus would not approve of abortion with the exception of a few cases. He also criticized the Democratic Party for taking such a strong stance on supporting abortion for all women and encouraged them to soften their language in the party's platform.
"I never found any incompatibilities though between my religious faith and my duties as a politician except in the case of abortion,"' Carter told CP in an interview. "I don't believe that Jesus would approve abortion except in the case of incest, rape or the mother's life in danger."
"But I had to enforce the Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade so I tried to do everything I could to minimize the need for abortions, making it easy to adopt children and by caring for women and infant children in the so-called WIC program," Carter continued. "So, that was an incompatibility that I had, to maintain peace and to put my basic Christian moral values into practice, were the things that were most challenging for me."
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Outside of his personal belief that abortion is wrong, the former one-term president maintains that if Democrats moderate the party's platform on abortion that they may be able to win back some Republicans who left over the party's full support of abortion rights.
"I've signed a public letter calling for the Democratic Party at the next convention to espouse my position on abortion which is to minimize the need, requirement for abortion and limit it only to women whose life are in danger or who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest," Carter said Thursday on Laura Ingraham's radio program."
"I think if the Democratic Party would adopt that policy that would be acceptable to a lot of people who are now estranged from our party because of the abortion issue."
The two roadblocks Carter may run into is that his position runs opposite from that of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party platform that reads:
"The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right."
The Republican Party's platform, meanwhile, is:
"We say the unborn child has a fundamental right to life. We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation that the 14th Amendment's protections apply to unborn children. Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions. We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it. We support the appointment of judges who respect the sanctity of innocent human life."
Earlier this week President Obama recorded a message to supporters of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, congratulating them for standing up for abortion rights.
"For you, and for most Americans, protecting women's health is a mission that stands above politics," Obama said in his message. "And yet over the past year you've had to stand up to politicians who want to deny millions of women the care they rely on and inject themselves into decisions that are best made between women and her doctor."
"When Republicans in Congress threatened to shut down the government unless we stopped funding Planned Parenthood, I had a simple answer: no," he added. "I know Planned Parenthood … will never stop fighting to protect the health care and the choices that America's women deserve. As long as I have the privilege of being your president, neither will I."
Karen Cross, political director with for National Right to Life, told LifeNews.com that the DNC platform does not represent almost half of those who identify themselves as Democrats.
"Once again, the pro-abortion leadership of the Democratic Party demonstrates an allegiance with the extreme pro-abortion lobby and continues to show that it is out of step with a large number of its own membership and out of step with the majority of the American people," said Cross.
Interestingly, in Carter's home state of Georgia where in the 1970s he was governor, state lawmakers struck a last minute agreement to restrict abortions after five months of a woman's pregnancy.
Female members of the legislature, including some men, stood up and turned their backs on the bill's supporters while walking out of the chamber chanting in protest. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal is expected to sign the bill in the next few days.
