ABORTION: Statement - 6/29/92 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.