EVANSVILLE, Indiana—Relating her own temptation to get an abortion, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addressed Indiana’s Vanderburgh County Right to Life annual dinner Thursday night in Evansville.
Speaking frankly of her own teenaged daughter’s pregnancy, and tearing up over her infant son’s Down Syndrome, Gov. Palin rocked the enthusiastic audience at the annual event. Local volunteers brought the annual Right to Life banquet together, having to arrange the overflow audience into auxiliary halls.
The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate said she was “Deeply honored to be invited, and out of all the places across the world we have been invited, this is where I chose to come!”
Palin took President Barack Obama to task for his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research. Palin recollected that she was 13 weeks into her pregnancy with her youngest child, Trig, when she found out that the baby had Down Syndrome.
Palin mused that it would have been very easy to have an abortion. “I had to ask myself, am I going to walk the walk, or just talk the talk?”
Palin said at age 44, she initially discovered she was pregnant while out of state attending an oil and gas conference. “I knew, nobody knows me here. Nobody will ever know,” she added, “It is easy to think of maybe trying to change the circumstances.”
And then came the knowledge that the infant would be born with life-changing challenges, both for himself and his family. “I had to ask myself, am I compassionate enough to take care of this child?” But when Trig was born, Palin said, “I felt a love that I had never felt before, and compassion that I didn’t even know. Trig is a miracle, and he has brought amazing and surprising happiness.”
Palin then described the day her then-17-year-old daughter, Bristol, came to her with the difficult news she was unexpectedly pregnant.
“It seemed less than ideal; it seemed surreal,” Palin said. “But I got to hold on to my faith, my belief that everything has purpose.”
During a 34-minute speech frequently punctuated with applause and laughter, Palin also made jokes about the whirlwind of her life in 2008.
Palin’s appearance in Evansville, Indiana was her first major public event outside of Alaska since the 2008 presidential campaign, when she and her presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), were defeated.
Vanderburgh County Right to Life Executive Director, Mary Ellen Van Dyke spoke disparagingly of the Obama administration, reminding the audience that the President had lifted the ban on international abortions during his first week in office.
“The very essence of life is under attack, we are now on the defense,” said Van Dyke. “Planned Parenthood gets money from taxpayers, whereas the Right to Life organizations receive donations that go through organizations and fund these advocacies to support and educate young mothers.”
Another major speaker was Maryland Governor and chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Michael Steele. Steele told the audience that being adopted himself, his own teenaged mother had actually decided to have an abortion, but found an organization that guided her to “choose life.”
Steele said that Roe v. Wade “was a wrongly decided matter,” and that individual states should have the choice whether to overturn the ruling. He reminded the audience, “Our nation’s founders proclaimed the first of our inalienable rights to be the right to life,” Steele said. “Give the unborn child a fighting chance, and overturn Roe vs. Wade.”
Gov. Steele exhorted the crowd, “Now is the time to let young mothers know that it’s a lie that there is no one out there who cares for a baby in the womb, in the world and in this country.”
Speaking frankly of her own teenaged daughter’s pregnancy, and tearing up over her infant son’s Down Syndrome, Gov. Palin rocked the enthusiastic audience at the annual event. Local volunteers brought the annual Right to Life banquet together, having to arrange the overflow audience into auxiliary halls.
The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate said she was “Deeply honored to be invited, and out of all the places across the world we have been invited, this is where I chose to come!”
Palin took President Barack Obama to task for his support of abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research. Palin recollected that she was 13 weeks into her pregnancy with her youngest child, Trig, when she found out that the baby had Down Syndrome.
Palin mused that it would have been very easy to have an abortion. “I had to ask myself, am I going to walk the walk, or just talk the talk?”
Palin said at age 44, she initially discovered she was pregnant while out of state attending an oil and gas conference. “I knew, nobody knows me here. Nobody will ever know,” she added, “It is easy to think of maybe trying to change the circumstances.”
And then came the knowledge that the infant would be born with life-changing challenges, both for himself and his family. “I had to ask myself, am I compassionate enough to take care of this child?” But when Trig was born, Palin said, “I felt a love that I had never felt before, and compassion that I didn’t even know. Trig is a miracle, and he has brought amazing and surprising happiness.”
Palin then described the day her then-17-year-old daughter, Bristol, came to her with the difficult news she was unexpectedly pregnant.
“It seemed less than ideal; it seemed surreal,” Palin said. “But I got to hold on to my faith, my belief that everything has purpose.”
During a 34-minute speech frequently punctuated with applause and laughter, Palin also made jokes about the whirlwind of her life in 2008.
Palin’s appearance in Evansville, Indiana was her first major public event outside of Alaska since the 2008 presidential campaign, when she and her presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), were defeated.
Steele Recalls His Brush With Abortion
The annual Right to Life banquet, billed as the nation’s largest such event, rocked through nearly three hours of music and speakers before Gov. Palin spoke.Vanderburgh County Right to Life Executive Director, Mary Ellen Van Dyke spoke disparagingly of the Obama administration, reminding the audience that the President had lifted the ban on international abortions during his first week in office.
“The very essence of life is under attack, we are now on the defense,” said Van Dyke. “Planned Parenthood gets money from taxpayers, whereas the Right to Life organizations receive donations that go through organizations and fund these advocacies to support and educate young mothers.”
Another major speaker was Maryland Governor and chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), Michael Steele. Steele told the audience that being adopted himself, his own teenaged mother had actually decided to have an abortion, but found an organization that guided her to “choose life.”
Steele said that Roe v. Wade “was a wrongly decided matter,” and that individual states should have the choice whether to overturn the ruling. He reminded the audience, “Our nation’s founders proclaimed the first of our inalienable rights to be the right to life,” Steele said. “Give the unborn child a fighting chance, and overturn Roe vs. Wade.”
Gov. Steele exhorted the crowd, “Now is the time to let young mothers know that it’s a lie that there is no one out there who cares for a baby in the womb, in the world and in this country.”
