Bob Bowman ... for the People

Issue Paper #20

"What is your position on abortion?"

This is one of those divisive social issues that the Reform Party takes no position on. We already have a corporate pro-life party and a corporate pro-choice party. The Reform Party is trying to be the party of the people ... but we can only have one. We can’t afford to be divided. We have people on both sides of this issue, and we can’t afford to lose them. The abortion issue has no place in my campaign. Still, I have my personal position, and you have a right to know what it is.

Since I’m the father of seven children ... and a Catholic bishop to boot, you can probably guess that I’m personally pro-life. I think abortion is a tragedy. But I believe it would be even more of a tragedy to criminalize a woman because she has an abortion.

If you give the federal government the power to ban abortion, then that same government can turn around and claim the power to mandate abortion, like the Chinese government does. I don’t think the government should have the power to tell a woman and her doctor what to do.

On the other hand, there are legitimate roles for the government in minimizing abortions. It should work to eliminate the social conditions (poverty, lack of health care, irresponsible men who get a woman pregnant then disappear) which drive women toward abortions in the first place. Beyond that, I think the government can have a role in protecting innocent young women from unscrupulous abortion providers who do not let them know that other options are available. We should publicize and support agencies which provide those other options. And because I have never seen any credible evidence that the procedure is ever medically necessary, I would not have vetoed the ban on "partial birth abortions" performed on infants ready and able to live on their own. I am very much pro-life.

But I also believe we must vehemently protect a woman’s privacy. We should make a range of options available, and make sure women are aware of them. Then we must trust the expectant mothers to choose wisely, and respect that choice. So I am also pro-choice. A return to back-alley abortions is simply not an option.

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