Of all the ugly lies the Right is circulating, none is more terrible than the assertion that Obama favors letting infants who have survived an abortion simply die without medical care. The Los Angeles Times dealt with McCain's attempt to repeat this lie in the last debate here:
McCain also criticized Obama for his position on an abortion-related bill while a state legislator in Illinois.
"Sen. Obama, as a member of the Illinois state Senate, voted in the judiciary committee against a law that would provide immediate medical attention to a child born of a failed abortion. He voted against that," McCain said.
Obama said the bill would have undermined legal protections for abortion provided by Roe vs. Wade. He defended his vote by saying that "there was already a law on the books in Illinois that required providing life-saving treatment, which is why not only myself but pro-choice Republicans and Democrats voted against it."
Factcheck.org supports Obama's assertion that there was already a law protecting such babies and has criticized an ad by an antiabortion group featuring a woman who says she was born in a failed abortion. The woman says she would not be alive "if Barack Obama had his way."
Illinois law since 1975 requires that if a child is born alive during an abortion, the physician "shall exercise the same degree of professional skill, care and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as would be required of a physician providing immediate medical care to a child born alive in the course of a pregnancy termination which was not an abortion."
Failure to do so is a felony in Illinois.
So, is everyone clear on this now?
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