Jimmy Carter, who served as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, died on December 29th at the age of 100. He was the longest-lived president in United States history, and the only one to live to 100. There will be an official state funeral held on January 9th, and it is expected that President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy.
Hugo Wentzel, one of Carter’s grandchildren, honored Carter on Instagram on Monday. “He passed away yesterday and it has left a huge mark on my family. He was an absolutely incredible person, and people remind me almost every single day how amazing he was,” he wrote, adding, “His extreme care for each and every human at all times was nothing short of absolutely outstanding, and something I strive for every day. He was the most selfless person I’ve ever met in my entire life, and I’m not even joking when I say probably one of the most selfless humans in history. I am so, so grateful to be his grandson.”
Carter was best known for what he achieved after leaving presidential office, including working heavily with Habitat for Humanity and earning a Nobel Peace Prize and a United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.
While president, Carter helped reform the foster care system and promote adoption by signing the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 into law. “The sad statistics underlying the need for this legislation are all too compelling-more than 500,000 children across the country are in foster care. Although foster care placements are supposed to be temporary, almost half of these children have been away from their families for longer than 2 years, and about 100,000 have spent more than 6 years of their young lives in foster care. Almost one-fourth of these children are awaiting adoption, yet no adoptive homes have been found for them, and the services and assistance these young people need have not been available,” he said in a statement at the time.
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“This legislation holds the promise of dramatically improving the lives of these children and their families. By authorizing funding for services designed to prevent family breakup, we are placing a firm emphasis on helping families keep their children at home. By encouraging States to provide services designed to return children to their families where possible or to place them in permanent family-like settings, we are responding to the need for permanence and stability in children’s lives.”
When it came to abortion, Carter had a more complex opinion than many of his fellow Democrats. He became president in January 1977, just four years after Roe v. Wade was decided. Though he supported Roe, he said he was personally opposed to abortion and later, after leaving office, told CNN that he believed abortion should be prevented as much as possible.
“When I was president, I announced, and I still maintain, that I can live with Roe v. Wade,” he said. “I did everything I possibly could as president under that ruling, which I don’t think ought to be changed, to minimize the need for abortions. I think every abortion is a result of a horrible series of errors on the part of people involved. And so, I made sure that our young people had adequate instruction on how to avoid pregnancy if they should choose to have sex before marriage and before they wanted a baby, abstinence is the best approach of course, I made sure that women and infant children, the WIC Program, Women and Infant Children, gave prospective mothers the assurance that they could have their child and that they would be adequately cared for economically. And I also improved the quality or ease of adoptions by a mother who didn’t want to raise her child to get matched up in a convenient way with couples who couldn’t have children of their own and could delightfully raise those children. So, I did everything I could to minimize the need for abortions.”
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He later said that he didn’t support taxpayer funding for abortion, and criticized the Democratic party in 2012 for being too extreme on the issue. However, despite his personally pro-life stance, he still supported legalized abortion for certain, targeted preborn children regardless of his disapproval of it.
“I never have believed that Jesus Christ would approve of abortions, and that was one of the problems I had when I was president, having to uphold Roe v. Wade, and I did everything I could to minimize the need for abortions. I made it easy to adopt children, for instance, who were unwanted, and also initiated the program called Women and Infant Children, or WIC, program that’s still in existence now. But except for the times when a mother’s life is in danger, or when a pregnancy is caused by rape or incest, I would certainly not or never have approved of any abortions,” he said, adding, “I’ve signed a public letter calling for the Democratic Party at the next convention to espouse my position on abortion, which is to minimize the need, requirement for abortion, and limit it only to women whose life are in danger, or who are pregnant as a result of rape or incest. 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.”
Induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children — is not necessary for any reason, including rape, incest, and life of the mother. Induced abortion carries the goal of ensuring the child is born dead. If a pregnancy must end due to a medical emergency, the child can be delivered without first being killed. In addition, no child deserves to be actively killed because of the circumstances of their conception.
Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek:
Stop killing America’s future. Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!
