Pro-life activists hold rallies targeting ‘vulnerable’ pro-abortion Democrats

Washington D.C., Aug 24, 2021 / 18:00 pm

The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List is targeting Democratic members of Congress who support federally-funded abortion, in a multi-state publicity campaign.

The group announced last week a campaign highlighting 20 Democrats’ support for taxpayer-funded abortion. The effort features door-to-door visits in members’ home states and districts, as well as digital ads, phone calls to constituents, and a three-state press tour.

“Most Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortion on demand, yet a majority of Democrats have no problem ignoring their constituents to vote in lock-step with the abortion industry,” stated Mallory Quigley, vice president of communications and national spokeswoman for the group Women Speak Out.

“Senators and representatives who insist on forcing taxpayers to fund abortion on demand and support barbaric, late abortions without limits must and will face the consequences of their extremism at the ballot box,” she said.

The group CatholicVote participated in the press tour last week, which stopped outside members’ offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as in Atlanta and in Tuscon, Arizona. CatholicVote reported that that leaders of state pro-life groups and dozens of local pro-life activists participated in the rallies.

The 20 “vulnerable Democrats” targeted in the effort include newly-elected Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), as well as Catholic Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Tom O’Hallerhan (D-Ariz.), Cindy Axne (D-Iowa), Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), and Conor Lamb (D-Pa.).

The members oppose the Hyde Amendment, a pro-life provision that bars federal funding of abortions in Medicaid. The amendment was first introduced in 1976 and has become law each year as an attachment to budget bills. Similar policies exist elsewhere in the federal funding process that prohibit funding of abortions internationally and domestically.

President Joe Biden, once a supporter of the Hyde Amendment while in the Senate, now opposes the policy and excluded it in his budget request to Congress for the coming fiscal year.

In the Senate, however, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has said that he would oppose passage of appropriations bills without the Hyde Amendment included. Manchin is considered a key swing vote in the chamber which is evenly split between the two parties.

Pro-life leaders are also warning that, in addition to efforts to eliminate the Hyde Amendment from appropriations bills, a proposed $3.5 trillion budget package could include billions of dollars in health care spending but without pro-life protections. If passed without Hyde-type language, that package could result in increased funding of abortions and abortion coverage.

A final vote on the budget package could come in September, in both the House and Senate.