Pro-Life Issues Yielded Election Victories, John Boehner Gets It

Opinion   |   Luis Zaffirini   |   Nov 5, 2010   |   4:55PM   |   Washington, DC

The mainstream media reported heavily on the importance of economic issues in the 2010 elections as if to exclude  the perennial importance of the life issues. 

Take for example an October 29th article from USA Today which proclaimed: “Social issues such as abortion…have had their day.” 

That phrase seems to suggest that valuing human life is a mere political fad, but the evidence suggests this is very much untrue.  The issues of abortion and health care rationing played important roles in the midterm elections and pro-lifers turned out to vote into office legislators who will make the right-to-life an important issue in their agendas.

Our Executive Director at National Right to Life, David N. O’Steen, said it best.  “Post-election polling has shown that pro-life issues played a major role in what happened at the polls yesterday and provided a margin sufficient to guarantee victory in many close races.” 

Polling showed that 22% of respondents voted based on abortion and voted PRO-LIFE.  Twenty-seven percent of voters said abortion funding in the health care law affected their vote and they voted for candidates who opposed the health care law as opposed to only 4% who said abortion funding in the health care law affected their vote and they voted for candidates who favored the law. 

And who can blame them when Obama’s health care law was the object of national ire, and particularly when NRLC shed light directly on instances where implementation of the new law meant federal dollars going toward plans which would pay for abortion.  This is just the thing legislators who voted for the pro-abortion health care law attempted to run from all election season long.

The polling also showed a tremendous rejection of health care rationing.  Forty-four percent of voters polled said that rationing in health care affected their vote AND they voted for opponents of the law.  And 56% said they opposed the health care law while only 39% favored it.

These are some powerful numbers for an issue many seem to have either missed or dismissed as a priority among the electorate, but it certainly won’t be lost on the losers. 
Fortunately, it is preeminent in the mind of the winners. 

Just today House Minority Leader John Boehner, who is likely to be the next Speaker of the House, released a document titled “Pillars of a New Majority.” (Link PDF)  It is a compilation of some of his speeches meant to represent his legislative priorities. 

The very first section is called “Culture of Life” which is a transcript of the speech he gave at this year’s National Right to Life Convention in Pittsburgh when receiving NRLC’s Legislative Leadership award.  The block quote above that section quotes Leader Boehner saying, ““The defense of life and the defense of freedom are necessarily linked. We know this to be true. And if we accept it, then the current political agenda in Washington is a threat to freedom.”

What an amazing job the grassroots pro-lifers did who helped spread the word about abortion and rationing in the Obama health care law!  And what a voice those pro-life voters gave to those who cannot speak for or defend themselves!