but he is entitled to his opinions and feelings on the issue and this was a personal statement. I think he is a thoughtful, peaceful and intelligent man in most matters so I am not going to slam him because he thinks completely differently than I on this issue.

He says nothing about restricting that, which the right wing loons of the Tea Party and Republicans want to have eliminated.

Thanks for your comments. Carter is just stating the obvious. I agree with you, that it's just a thoughtful statement from the heart.

Women don't want to be a situation where abortion is their best choice to control their lives. There is so much more that PP and other groups that perform abortions do for women's health, that the GOP is destroying state by state even though Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land.

They are the problem, not Carter.

completely of the mind that the abortion decision needs to be only up to the woman, the medical provider, and perhaps her partner. But a key part of Carter's statement is "to minimize the need . . ."

Just as a general comment about those who are trying to retrict abortioin in this country: Do they really honestly believe that if they make abortion very difficult to obtain, that abortion will magically go away?

Look for the return of what we used to call back-alley abortions, and all the horrors that went with them.

through pregnancy prevention such as birth control, condoms or abstinence. That way if people have the ability to adequately control when a woman gets pregnant, then the only time you should need an abortion is in one of those cases.

Yes he talks about minimizing the need but he goes way beyond that when he says we need to "limit it only to women whose life are in danger or who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest". That's not a choice position, that's a position that says it should only be a woman's choice in situations where Jimmy Carter has decided it's okay.

So, if he wants to state that he wishes there was a limit, there's nothing wrong with that.
That's just his opinion.
I doubt if the central committee would accept putting it in as a plank of their party platform, though.

Just like they won't accept platform positions calling for the overturning of "right to work" laws, or calling for stronger unions.

This ain't your granddaddy's Democratic party.
That's for sure.

Man, am I disappointed. Really.

I was only pointing out that those trying to massage what he said into simply a call for more sex education in order to make it more palatable to Democrats are kidding themselves.

His accomplishments are limited, he was one of the first presidents to push through deregulation and worked so poorly with Congressional Democrats, he pissed away a chance to really define the country coming out of Watergate/Nixon.

Now, I think he's underrated and certainly not the worst, but I would say both Clinton & Obama accomplished more as presidents than Carter ever did.

are in great demand these days...

"I think if the Democratic Party would adopt that policy that would be acceptable to a lot of people who are now estranged from our party because of the abortion issue.”

That's his compromise. Ban abortion except when he says it's okay. That's not a "compromise". Well actually it is just the kind of compromise we have been seeing from Democrats since the end of WWII. That "critical thinking" is the same kind of nonsense that got the President to say he was opposed to gay marriage. A capitulation, not a compromise, for strictly political reasons.

is not compromise, that's certain. And, I'm not saying I agree with Carter's stance. I am simply deducing--strictly from the content of the quote presented--the intent of Carter's assertion.

BTW, I have posted many times my position regarding patriarchy, the impetus behind this entire conundrum. The power imbalance inherent in the social construct we've labeled 'patriarchy' is damaging to our entire species. How can we expect a 'dominant' gender to respect a 'submissive' gender, when 'power over' is glorified? We women are considered less than because we have a 'v' instead of a 'p'! How absurd!

Some great resources for any who wish to change this oppressive socio-cultural reality:

The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual Arrangements and Human Malaise by Dorothy Dinnerstein.

Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals by Marilyn French.

The War Against Women by Marilyn French.

Sorry if I seemed to be supporting the right to limit women's access to anything.

I currently have a bumper sticker on my car that says: If you cut off my reproductive rights, can I cut off yours?

And I think more women need to be introducing legislation that outlaws any non-procreative emissions on the part of men. More men need to understand exactly who incredibly intrusive all this outlawing of abortion and birth control is into women's private lives.

lead the 70s Supremes to legalize abortion. I'm sure that more than one of these Justices lost a sister, niece, cousin, aunt to one of these risky procedures to take care of "female" problems.

Carter age have change certain points of view they had as they did when younger. I know of a woman who fought for woman's right to choose all her life. Now that she is 86 she isn't all that keen on the subject now.


Perhaps it is part of the aging process and the idea that the hereafter is not too far way?

So, it's not a surprise.

I don't think he's ever been vocally in favor of a women's right to choose.

accounts I'd still like to see someone like him in general in the white house. I can deal with a President who's personal ideas leaned toward Pro-life. I just hope he or SHE would respect Roe v Wade.

jr and sr high, and promoting birth control amongst the almighty church. "Minimize the need"

Of course everybody is in favor of minimizing the need for abortions. Nobody is *for* abortions. But the choice should be available and not be restricted.

I can see that coming from him, but nothing in the draconian way the teabaggers are doing it. They want to eliminate all battered women's shelters, crisis hotlines, rape counseling and prevention and just let the victims of rape and incest give birth. They want all child protection agencies gone. They want to eliminate all of that!

Look, I get it, Carter is deeply admired on DU and nobody wants to read something bad about him. But facts are facts. We shouldn't be afraid to call him out on this just because he has a (D) behind his name.

Thanks for the thread, Playinghardball.

Yes, he did......

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2002/

prize but I am wrong. I do know he was up for an award that he didn't end up getting....


Better try and find that article.


Thanks for setting me straight.

So long, that people may have forgotten all he did to broker Middle East peace, and all that he and the Carter Center are still doing. I think it's time for another one.

up her baby for adoption (of get excommunicated).

is truly one of the finest men ever to have served as POTUS. He was prescient about our energy problems, if not very effective in getting through to us. This, sadly was an overall problem in his presidency , and has caused what should have been his legacy to unfairly suffer. Not since the shrewd, tough and experienced LBJ , has a Democratic president been able to completely overcome the partisan forces aligned against him. Clinton was brilliant and charming, but was tied up by Whitewater and his own libido. We now know how badly Carter was betrayed by the Reagan forces during the Iran hostage crisis.

I read that bastard reagan like a book from day one

He was a centrist, "New Democrat" long before anyone ever heard of Whitewater.

No surprise there... One of our best presidents.

is the most awesome president we ever had!

But then again, like a certain other President, he was hated by many because he tried too hard to deal with the right wing like they were not savages, and did not talk to those on the left that actually did want to help him. Of course, there were also many on the left that wanted someone who was to the left of Che, and would not be satisified, so they let Carter hang.

Yes, Obama has disappointed me, but I have no doubt that in ten years, people will say the same things about him that they do about Carter.

....Obama will have served TWO terms! We cannot let the mistake we made in 1980 when we only half-heartedly supported President Carter. No Democratic president is perfect. Carter, Clinton, and Obama all disappointed us at times, but overall they tried to do the right things, and are certainly preferable to the alternative!

Come election time, we Democrats cannot sit back and say "Well, he hasn't done enough....". We have to get in there and fight for our candidate's election as if our lives depended on it (and to a certain extent, it DOES).

One only needs to look at the Supreme Court to know why we MUST keep the White House in Democratic hands.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!!!!!

Watch the M$M as we get closer to November. Has anyone else noticed the 'polls' they've been reporting lately, alleging that 46% of those polled would vote for Obama AND 46% of those polled would vote for Romney (I saw this one last night)? Eventually, when the Corporate Megalomaniacs rig the election for the outcome they prefer, they can assert that the race was just too close to call.

(BTW, I've relocated to a rural part of north Arkansas, and one of my childhood friends gleefully told me that he intends to vote for "whoever has the R behind their name," just to make sure Obama doesn't get a second term. We had a lively discussion about this. He couldn't tell me a thing about Romney or why he'd support Romney--just kept insisting that he wants Obama out of office. The M$M and the Corporate Megalomaniacs are QUITE successfully propagandizing their sheeple...)

You have my PROFOUND sympathies! Take a look at this post I made on the website arkansashunting.net about three years ago. They had posted some ridiculous conservative proposal for a "divorce" from liberal America, and I responded point by point.

http://www.arkansashunting.net/showthread.php?t=48920

Scroll down to see my post (I'm "Southern Progressive&quot . The responses I received were so vulger that a couple of them were actually REMOVED by the site's moderator (but they let mine stay!).

As a teacher, I find it frustrating to see divisive, black/white, either/or, fear-mongering, and hate-mongering drivel from an 'adult' (allegedly) citizen. The points you made were cogent and fairly non-confrontational, and I hope you gave at least ONE participant food for thought.

BTW, Arkansas has quite a few enclaves of sanity. More importantly, the Ozarks are still relatively sparsely populated, and the environment here is incredible!

In my old age, I've come to realize that divisive, hateful, angry, delusional people come from all walks of life, and live in every state of the union. I continue to believe that these pitiful unfortunates are a minority, and that they do not exemplify where our species is headed.

Sorry, I've never been a fan of his born again anti-choice beliefs. I guess those beliefs are why Michelle Bachmann volunteered for his campaign back in 1976. http://www.npr.org/2011/12/15/143759959/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-michele-bachmann

My real problem with Carter was his utter inability to inspire the American people. He just didn't know how to communicate with Americans. To be a great leader, you have to be able to get people inspired. He couldn't do it and the Republicans pounced. Because of Carter's inability to push back, "liberal" became a dirty word and Dems became synonymous with weakness/spinelessness.

Obama, on the other hand, does send a tingle up my leg. I understand I'm not the only one.

However, having lived through the watergate years, America at the time was very upset at politicians in general. Upset that Ford had pardoned Nixon thus eliminating his chance for reelection. The Dems of the time needed to put forth a candidate that was squeaky clean and Jimmy fit the bill. Considering the interest rate during the mid 70s was over 10% ... and the hostage situation was dragging on for over a year..... OPEC cutting production of oil... no wonder he couldn't get things done. He was honest! He tried to treat the opposition as he would want to be treated. That doesn't work with republicans .. it's almost like an abusive relationship, where one keep kicking the other down and the other keeps trying to please, expecting them to change. Throw in the back door trading arms for hostages with reagan and his ex-cia man bush ... making deals to prolong the hostage situation till the elections.... Carter couldn't win. The day that reagan took office, the Iranian's fulfilled their promise to him, releasing the hostages... and reagan fulfilled his promise and sent those few "Shoulder Weapons" to Iran. (Stinger Missiles) All the while lying to the American public that he would never negotiate with terrorists. In my opinion Carter was exactly the President we needed... it was the corrupt system we have that didn't allow him to succeed. In the decades following his presidency we now can see how great of a man he was. But even if Jesus Christ himself had been president at that time...he would not have fared much better.

My Humble Opinion...

Yooperman