McCain praised, criticized for his pro-life record

Published: 2008-02-18

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republicans' presumptive presidential nominee, has been praised and criticized for his pro-life record. Praised by the National Right to Life Committee and opposed by Planned Parenthood, McCain has been accused of being too soft on abortion and cool to pro-life issues in general. Critics point out that a major chink in McCain's pro-life armor is his support for embryonic stem-cell research in which human embryos are destroyed to extract the cells, and they add that he is not aggressively anti-abortion. His defenders note McCain's consistent anti-abortion voting record and say his language is changing on stem-cell issues, especially as research using adult stem cells and some treatments using them have moved forward. McCain's campaign Web site states that he favors the reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States, opposes the creation of human embryos for research purposes, would outlaw the use of cells or fetal tissue from embryos created for research purposes, and opposes human cloning.

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