POSITION:  UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE

NOMINEE:  Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)

Born:  October 26, 1947

Family:  Husband – 42^nd President of the United States Bill Clinton; daughter, Chelsea Clinton

Occupation:  Senator from the State of New York

Education:  undergraduate degree from Wellesley College; J.D., Yale Law School ‘73

Political Career:  Following law school Hillary Clinton was a Congressional legal counsel in the Nixon impeachment trials.  Married Bill Clinton in Arkansas in 1975 and became the First Lady of the State of Arkansas when her husband was elected Governor.  She was named the first female partner at the Rose Law Firm in 1979.  She was active in a number of organizations regarding child welfare and sat on the board of Wal-Mart and several other corporations.  When her husband became President, she used her role as First Lady to launch her own initiative, the Clinton health care plan, which failed to gain approval from the Congress in 1994, 1997, and 1999.  She was the only First Lady to be subpoenaed, testifying before a federal grand jury as a consequence of the Whitewater controversy in 1996.  She was elected as a U.S. senator from New York State in 2000 and was re-elected in 2006.  She ran for President in 2008.  [source]

Life Issues:  On all issues of life, Planned Parenthood has its team in place with President Obama at the top and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.  Hillary Clinton is pro-abortion on all fronts.  She will be influential in forcing Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) legislation that will, with a stroke of the President’s pen, turn back all progress in protecting innocent life that has been made over the past 36 years since Roe v Wade.  Sen. Clinton has been an original cosponsor of FOCA in the past two years.  Addressing the international women’s conferences in Cairo she established her position on abortion as a “basic right” in 1994.  Five years later she addressed an international conference called Cairo Plus Five at The Hague and reaffirmed this position, as well as her support for restoration of U.S. tax support for the United Nations Population Fund.  Clinton has stated her opposition to forced abortion and use of family planning and contends that the UNFPA, which has been barred from U.S. support because of a Presidential finding of participation in China’s forced one-child policy, is cooperating with Chinese officials on voluntary measures and deserves support.  

The current Bush administration has made certain that U.S. foreign assistance, through the Mexico City Policy, does not encourage abortion and abortion referral as an American export.  This policy is certain to change under an Obama-Clinton foreign policy regime.  Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, says, “Without spending a penny more, the new administration can do an enormous amount just by standing strong for the human rights of women and for the kinds of actions that are not simply needed but that countries time and time again – since the Universal Declaration on Human Rights – have agreed to,”  We can expect to see abortion policy advanced as a “human right” following the swearing in of Barack Obama and confirmation of Secretary of State Clinton.  “The rights approach has not been reflected in [Bush administration] policy,” says Jamila Taylor from the Center for Health and Gender Equity.  “Do it from a human rights perspective, not even just a reproductive rights perspective.  ‘Human rights’ runs the gamut of issues – access to education, income generation – all the things that make women vulnerable or empowered around the world.”  Taylor and Germain will play major roles with the State Department under Hillary Clinton and they are prepared to use all international documents in the promotion of abortion.  The Secretary of State can set administration policy on HIV/AIDS and the office of the Coordinator on AIDS is situated in the State Department, meaning the Secretary of State could push the office to make gender concerns a priority in PEPFAR funding. [source]

Senator Clinton voted twice in Congress against the ban on Partial-Birth Abortion.  She led the fight along with Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow abortifacients to be sold in pharmacies without a doctor’s prescription.  She also supported legislation to give teens access to “emergency contraceptives.”  Clinton supports expansion of the current federal policy so that more lines of stem cells can be experimented upon, namely those derived from the killing of human embryos. [source]

Human Sexuality & Marriage:  Sen. Clinton is supported by homosexual organizations like the Human Rights Campaign.  She steps away from saying she supports gay marriage but uses the term “civil unions with fully equality of benefits.”  “I believe in full equality of benefits, nothing left out.  From my perspective there is a great likelihood of us getting to that point in civil unions or domestic partnerships and that is my very considered opinion.”  [source]

Clinton voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment and she supports the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and supports allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military, which would require amending the Uniform Code of Military Justice that establishes penalties for certain sexual acts outside marriage.  “It hurts all our troops, and this, to me, is a matter of national security,” she said to a group of HRC supporters.  Clinton has said she would work to pass a federal law outlawing employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and she would work to extend benefits to the partners of federal employees. [source]  She supports and co-sponsored legislation to expand Medicaid benefits to the special class of HIV-positive homosexuals and she supports “hate crime” (thought crime) legislation.  Clinton supports gay adoption. [source]

Judges/Constitution:  Senator Clinton in railing against the Roberts Court asserted the need for a closer tie between Congress and the courts.  In an address to the American Constitution Society in New York on February 27, 2004 she said, “I believe it is time for Congress to reassert itself, and I am pleased to report that Senator Ted Kennedy and I this week introduced a bill called ‘FAIRNESS: The Civil Rights Act of 2004.’  It is an effort to realign the balance between Congress and the courts by responding to recent decisions that have unduly narrowed existing laws.  The bill restores the ability of individuals to seek relief from discriminatory practices in federally funded programs…”  Clearly the bill is intended to impose legislative power over them when they construe a law more narrowly than some in Congress prefer.  She stood in strong opposition to numerous Bush cabinet and court appointees. [source]

Religious Freedom:  While Senator Clinton supported the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (which was written to protect civil rights laws and require employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for their employees to practice their faith in the work environment), she supports ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) which would force certain religious entities to hire and promote individuals irrespective of their adherence to the moral tenets of the employer.

Health Care:  This is an area in which Senator Clinton plays out all her issues regarding abortion.  In 1993 her health plan included RU-486 and widely available abortion.  In response to the plan as a clear conduit for expanded abortion, Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) attached an amendment to the bill allowing for a “conscience exemption” in which doctors and hospitals would not be forced to perform abortions.  One of President Bill Clinton’s first acts in office was to push the RU-486 abortion pill regimen to market through an expedited FDA approval process that was criticized by pro-lifers as too quick for the safety of the women who would take the pill.  Injuries and even deaths have resulted from hemorrhage, septic infection and other problems due to or masked by the drug’s action.

On the fourth day of the Clinton presidency, January 23, 1993, the 20^th anniversary of Roe v Wade, Bill Clinton signed a series of executive orders undoing the policies of the Reagan era relating to abortion.  This was done at the advice of his wife.  In her view, the milestone anniversary of Roe v Wade was the perfect opportunity to move the new presidency on course in terms of “women’s rights” and signal that what she termed “the religious right” had lost its dominance regarding abortion policy.  [source]

In the year 2009 it is clear that in her new and even more powerful position as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton will deal the country similar if not identical setbacks for the sanctity of innocent human life.

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