From: U45301@uicvm.uic.edu (Mary Jacobs)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: CLINTON SPEECH TEXT: PA VS. CASEY
Date: 19 Aug 92 10:41:26 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago

CLINTON SPEECH TEXT NOW POSTED ON ALT.POLITICS.CLINTON

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                REMARKS BY GOVERNOR BILL CLINTON
                      PENNSYLVANIA V. CASEY
                          JUNE 29, 1992
                      LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS


Thank you. Thank you very much. I would like to first thank you
for coming and for standing in the rain and for coming inside.

I have a statement I want to make today about this Pennsylvania
decision after which I will be glad to answer questions about it.

The decision in the Pennsylvania case, and the comments made in
dissent by Justice Blackmun, make it abundantly clear that the
constitutional right to choose is hanging by a thread. We are
only one justice away from returning to the painful past before
Roe v. Wade, and only a president committed to maintaining the
present law can maintain the constitutional right to choose.

It may be a court for Bush and for Reagan, but it's our country
and our constitutional rights. And I think this election now
plainly imposes on all American citizens the obligation to
protect our liberties.

We can also demand that Congress pass a National Freedom of
Choice Act, but we know even if Congress does, it will only
become law if we have a new president.

I want to say again what I have said many times in many places
across this country. I have believed in the rule of Roe v. Wade
for twenty years since I used to teach it in law school.

Being pro-choice is not the same thing as being pro-abortion.
There are many people who have many different opinions about many
different abortions.

Those of us who believe in the rule of Roe v. Wade are united in
the simple conviction that we don't want to go back to the time
when a woman or her doctor were made criminals because they made
the decision that they felt was right in their own consciences,
and with their own hearts.

I think this is a very disturbing day. I regret it very much. You
have four judges plainly committed to repeal Roe v. Wade, three
others nibbling around the edges, and a brave Justice Blackmun
saying he doesn't know how much longer he can hang on.

This is one of the things this presidential election is about.
And I hope the American people will say in clear and unambiguous
terms that we do not want to go back. Those of us who are old
enough to remember know that it is not the thing to do.

So I stand here before you today to say that I am not
particularly surprised by this decision, but the details are not
nearly as important as the fact that four people came out
forthrightly for repealing Roe v. Wade, and that Justice Blackmun
sent us a clear signal that only the next election can preserve
it.

Thank you very much.
Newsgroups: talk.abortion