Washington D.C., Nov 8, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Pro-life leaders attribute the results of Tuesday’s mid-term elections to Republican candidates’ wavering positions on pro-life issues. The election brought a Democratic majority to the U.S. Congress for the first time since 1994.
“The most vulnerable seats in both houses were those held by politicians who had abandoned the pro-life and the pro-marriage principles that first brought them to power,” said Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International.
“In many states, voters turned out in large numbers to defend traditional marriage, but voters were not willing to support those who would not support their values. Some so-called conservative senators were all too happy to water down or jettison their ‘unwavering’ defense of the unborn in the name of political expediency and now they have paid the price,” Fr. Euteneuer said in a statement.
He blamed George Allen’s loss on his investments in Barr Pharmaceuticals--the manufacturer of the abortifacient Plan B. He said Jim Talent’s loss in Missouri was cause by his fearful refusal to oppose the state’s cloning initiative.
“The Giuliani-McCain-Romney wing of the Republican Party is responsible for this overwhelming defeat,” the priest charged. “If the GOP truly wishes to regain the trust of pro-life, pro-family conservatives, then they must look to leaders like Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who has never wavered on his principles or his defense of the innocent unborn, as their model.”
Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the Democratic Party made major gains because they presented some candidates who espouse pro-life views.
“The Democrats did not (and could not) gain any control in Congress by opposing the pro-life position,” Fr. Pavone said in a statement, “but rather by having enough candidates who claimed to embrace it (like Bob Casey, Jr.).”
The priest cited a political analysis, published in the Washington Post, which indicated that this election will change the quality of the Democratic presence in Congress.
“Party politics will be shaped by the resurgence of ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats, who come mainly from the South and from rural districts in the Midwest and often vote like Republicans,” the Post said. The newspaper added that top Democrats have already instructed their members that “they cannot allow the party's liberal wing to dominate the agenda next year.”
Fr. Pavone said he intends to ask the new Democratic House leadership what action they will take on the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, which would require that a mother, who is seeking an abortion after 20 weeks gestation, be given the option of providing pain relief for her unborn child prior to the abortion procedure.