Obama Criticizes McCain On Supreme Court Judges

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 14 Jul 2008 - 6:00 PST

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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) "drew sharp contrast" with Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on abortion rights, equal pay for women, and family and medical leave during campaign events in New York and Virginia, the Los Angeles Times reports. Obama said, "I'll never back down in defending a woman's right to choose" (Roug/Reston, Los Angeles Times, 7/11).

McCain "has made it abundantly clear that he ... hopes to see" Roe v. Wade overturned and that he would appoint Supreme Court justices like Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, Obama said. He added, "I stand by my votes against confirming Justices Roberts and Alito." Obama said voters will decide when selecting the next president "whether we'll have judges who demonstrate sound judgment and empathy, who understand how law operates in our daily lives, who are committed to upholding the values at the core of our Constitution -- or judges who put ideology before justice, with our fundamental rights as the first casualty" (Sidoti, AP/Google.com, 7/10).

Obama also said that McCain does not support equal pay for women and said that economic policies that affect women affect everyone. Obama said, "When a job doesn't offer family leave, that also hurts families who may want to care for a newborn baby or ailing parent. When there's no affordable childcare or after school programs, that hurts children. ... When women make only 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes, that doesn't just hurt women. It hurts families" (Los Angeles Times, 7/11). Obama said he would expand family and medical leave programs and require employers to offer seven days of paid sick leave (Dominello, Medical General/Richmond-Times Dispatch, 7/11).

McCain called Obama's proposal to expand family and medical leave a "big-government solution" and said sick days should be negotiated between management and labor. McCain said he is committed to doing whatever he can "to encourage the participation of women in all walks of life and make sure that any barriers to their advancement are eliminated" (Los Angeles Times, 7/11).

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