Pro-Life As A Campaign Issue - Senator Brownback's Role
By Paul M. Weyrich (09/19/07)
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) is running for President, largely with the support of pro-lifers. Unfortunately, he has not done well. In the Ames, Iowa straw poll, which launched Governor Mike Huckabee to near top-tier status, Brownback trailed badly. Notwithstanding the fact he spent a great deal of money soliciting voters for the straw poll, Huckabee spent almost nothing, which is why his second place showing is so remarkable.
In any case, Brownback returned to the Senate and managed to get one of two amendments passed which would keep two long standing pro-life positions intact if ultimately signed into law. Democrats wanted to kill both measures.
The first is S.AMDT.2707, which passed the Senate on a 48-45 vote. It would prohibit U.S. funding for organizations that support coercive abortion, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This agency supports, and participates in, the management of the population program of the People’s Republic of China, which relies heavily upon government-coerced abortions to enforce its one-child-per-couple policy.
The House Committee on Appropriations, through which H.R. 2764 passed, sought to reinstate funding for the UNFPA by changing the language in several different ways. Brownback’s amendment, offered in the Senate, retains the current language prohibiting funding. President George W. Bush announced that if the House’s changes are sent to him, he would veto the bill. Brownback’s move makes that unlikely to occur, although the House has yet to vote on the conference committee’s bill.
Brownback’s second amendment was S.AMDT.2708. It failed to pass the Senate on a 40-54 vote. S.AMDT.2708 would have kept the so-called Mexico City Policy intact. The Mexico City Policy prohibits U.S. assistance to private overseas organizations that perform or promote abortion as a method of family planning. The Mexico City Policy was instituted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Former President George H. W. Bush kept the policy intact but President William J. (Bill) Clinton negated the policy the day he became President. Fortunately, President George W. Bush re-instated the policy on January 22, 2001.
As with the funding for UNFPA, the House version of H.R. 2764 contains language which would negate the Mexico City Policy. The President already indicated that if the Mexico City Policy were not kept intact he would veto the bill. He may have to veto it since the Senate failed to pass Brownback’s amendment.
H.R. 2764 currently is in a Senate–House Conference Committee. The Senate conferees should argue to retain Brownback’s first amendment against funding coerced abortions.
Although the Brownback Presidential campaign is not doing well, he has emerged as the top pro-life spokesman in Congress. The national media has concluded that the pro-life issue is no longer important. I don’t believe it. There continues to be a pro-life advantage over candidates who assume a pro-choice position. Assuming that the pro-life candidate is competitive he or she will have from a 4-6 point advantage over the pro-abortion candidate.
Unless former Mayor Rudolph (Rudy) Giuliani obtains the Republican nomination most likely the Republican nominee will be pro-life. It is a certainty that the Democratic nominee will be pro-abortion. In a tight race the Republican candidate would have an advantage. The pro-life movement has made incremental improvements. This began with the Reagan Presidency in 1981 and all the way through the Clinton Presidency once he had a Republican Congress, and now through the Bush era. If the Democrats were to win the Presidency and continue to control the Congress, it would be the first time that the pro-life movement would suffer a setback in the past quarter century.
Paul M. Weyrich
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