ANN COULTER,RUSH LIMBAUGH AND SEAN HANNITY SMEAR OBAMA WITH FALSE CLAIM ABOUT ABORTION

Coulter, Limbaugh and Sean Hannity smeared Obama with false claim that he "believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion"

Summary: Rush Limbaugh stated that Sen. Barack Obama "believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion" and Ann Coulter said that Obama "wants the doctors ... chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed." They based their claims on Obama's opposition to an Illinois bill that he and other opponents said posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary. Indeed, the Illinois Department of Public Health reportedly said that conduct alleged by proponents of the bill, if it had occurred, would have violated then-existing law.

SOURCE: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808200007?f=h_latest CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE VIDEO OF ANN COULTER AND SEAN HANNITY DISCUSSING TOPIC OF ABORTION.


Radio host Rush Limbaugh and right-wing pundit Ann Coulter each echoed a false claim on August 18 when they asserted, respectively, that Sen. Barack Obama "believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion" and that he "wants the doctors ... chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed." The conservative commentators made their claims based on Obama's opposition as an Illinois state senator to a bill amending the Illinois Abortion Law of 1975, which, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, Obama and other opponents said posed a threat to abortion rights and was unnecessary because, they said, Illinois law already prohibited the conduct being addressed by the bill.

Indeed, as Media Matters noted, when tasked by the Illinois attorney general's office with investigating allegations that fetuses born alive at an Illinois hospital were abandoned without treatment, the Illinois Department of Public Health reportedly said that it was unable to substantiate the allegations but said that if the allegations had proved true, the conduct alleged would have been a violation of then-existing Illinois law. Obama himself has cited specific provisions of the Illinois Compiled Statutes in stating that the "born alive principle was already the law in Illinois."

On Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity said to Coulter: "The Born Alive Infant Protection Acts. They induce these abortions," adding, "Barack Obama was the only senator to speak out against a bill that would have protected babies in that situation. ... Is that infanticide?" Coulter responded: "[O]f course it's infanticide," later adding, "I mean, this is a child that is not bothering the woman anymore, is not going to make her depressed or affect her health. It's out of the woman's body. They tried to kill it, but somehow the baby made it out alive. Sometimes missing an arm, but alive. And Barack Obama wants the doctors, you know, chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed."

On his nationally syndicated radio program, Limbaugh asserted: "We know that Barack Obama believes it is proper to kill a baby that has survived an abortion."

From the August 18 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Ann Coulter, I'll start with you. The Born Alive Infant Protection Acts. They induce these abortions. I --
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: I interviewed Jill Stanek. She's a nurse. Illinois.
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: Testified before Obama's committee. A baby with Down syndrome aborted, thrown in a soiled utility room. She cradles this baby that's breathing for 45 minutes, and Barack Obama was the only senator to speak out against a bill that would have protected babies in that situation. Is that the --
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: Is that infanticide?
COULTER: It's shocking.
HANNITY: It is.
COULTER: It's -- of course it's infanticide. Yeah, he's for a woman's right to choose through the fourth trimester. And even Barbara Boxer, whom until now was the most staunchly pro-abortion senator, even she spoke in favor of this bill. I mean, this is a child that is not bothering the woman anymore, is not going to make her depressed or affect her health. It's out of the woman's body. They tried to kill it, but somehow the baby made it out alive.
HANNITY: Yeah.
COULTER: Sometimes missing an arm, but alive. And Barack Obama wants the doctors, you know, chasing it through the delivery room to make sure it gets killed. And moreover, you know, his remark about -- the glib remark about, "Oh, when life begins, it's above my pay grade." What kind of moral principle says, "I don't know when life begins, so kill it"? No, if you don't know when life begins, you err on the side of life, at least if you're a decent human being.

Read more here: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808200007?f=h_latest