Pro-life leaders cheer Brown's win over Coakley

Boston, Mass., Jan 20, 2010 / 12:31 pm

Several prominent pro-life leaders are responding to Scott Brown's Senate victory in Massachusetts last night, with one saying that Brown's success is a “win” for American women.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life political action group Susan B. Anthony List said on Wednesday that “The election of Scott Brown is no accident,” and that “The American people have spoken tonight.”

“Martha Coakley's defeat is not a setback for women in politics, it is a victory,” the SBA List president said.

She went on to call Scott Brown's success “a win for the majority of American women who demand authentic representation that reflects commonsense pro-life views, like abortion funding restrictions and conscience protections.”

“Abortion is never good for women,” Dannenfelser asserted , “and it should never be a legitimate aspect of any 'health care' debate.”

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, also issued a statement on Wednesday, commenting that Brown's victory “represents several simple facts about the current state of American politics.” In Fr. Pavone's view, the American people love freedom and that no matter what their party affiliation is, are not comfortable with any party holding majorities in Washington and ignoring “the will of the people, as the Democratic Party has been doing on so many issues.”

“Whether the issue is healthcare, abortion, or anything else, when the people feel powerless to change the minds of those in power, they change those in power,” he concluded.

Concerned Women for America (CWA) president Wendy Wright also responded to the election result last night saying that it was President Obama's and Martha Coakley's “arrogance” that cost them the Senate seat on Wednesday as well as the people of the state beginning to understand what the new health care plan would entail. “Massachusetts' citizens know what ObamaCare would be like,” Wright said, noting that “their state passed oppressive health care 'reform' that subsidizes abortions. They're paying the high prices and getting less health care because of it.”

“The message is clear, abortion is not health care,” Dannenfelser of the SBA List concluded in her Wednesday statement. “Americans should not be forced to fund it, and medical providers of faith should not be forced to participate in it.”

“The people of Massachusetts deserve a Senator who affirms Constitutional rights for all, not one who puts a radical ideology above the right of conscience. Scott Brown promised to keep abortion out of health care on the campaign trail, and the Susan B. Anthony List looks forward to working with him to accomplish that goal,” she said.

Senator-elect Scott Brown is not strongly opposed to abortion and has called it a “decision that should ultimately be made by the woman in consultation with her doctor,” according to his website. His opposition to the Senate health care bill in its current form is based mainly on his aversion to a government-run health care system.