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Meet the Real McCain > Learn More > McCain on the Issues
McCain on the Issues
John McCain has spent the last 25 years amassing one of the worst voting records on the issue of reproductive freedom in Congress, voting anti-choice 125 times in 130 opportunities during his congressional career.
If elected president, McCain has pledged to be the anti-choice movement's faithful ally: "If I am fortunate enough to be elected as the next President of the United States, I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend of the right to life movement." [Statement by Sen. McCain read by Sen. Sam Brownback at the March for Life in Washington, DC, January 22, 2008.]
Here's where McCain stands on key issues:
Abortion - Birth Control - Sex Education - The Courts - Clinic Violence
Abortion
- While McCain has called for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, his campaign website goes one step further, stating: "the reversal of Roe v. Wade represents only one step in the long path toward ending abortion."
- In addition to calling for an end to safe, legal abortion, McCain routinely votes to block women's access to abortion care for low-income women and military women serving overseas. Learn more on NARAL Pro-Choice America's voting record.
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Birth Control
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Sex Education
- When asked repeatedly by a reporter about his position on sex education and whether birth control helps prevent the spread of HIV, McCain was "stumped." (You can read the full transcript here: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/mccain-stumbles-on-hiv-prevention/)
Q: "What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush's policy, which is just abstinence?"
McCain: (Long pause) "Ahhh. I think I support the president's policy."
Q: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"
McCain: (Long pause) "You've stumped me."
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The Courts
- McCain voted to confirm four anti-choice Supreme Court nominees, including Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts. All three voted to uphold the Bush administration's Federal Abortion Ban. Learn more on NARAL Pro-Choice America's voting record.
- McCain's website includes anti-choice rhetoric often used to undermine the constitutional right to privacy: "John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench."
- In a May 2005 article that ran in The New Yorker, Gary Bauer - a social conservative politician who endorsed McCain in his 2000 presidential bid - is quoted as saying, "I wanted a commitment from either George Bush or John McCain that if elected he would appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court... Bush said he had no litmus test, and his judges would be strict constructionists. But McCain, in private, assured me he would appoint pro-life judges."
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Clinic Violence
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