FRC Voting Guide: Bachmann, Perry, Santorum Most Pro-Life

Politics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 21, 2011   |   1:56PM   |   Washington, DC

The Family Research Council has released a new voters guide for pro-life and pro-family voters that compares the Republican presidential candidates on various issues, including abortion and bioethics concerns.

While the GOP presidential hopefuls mostly receive strong pro-life marks from FRC, the voter’s guide ultimately has Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum listed as the most pro-life candidates on the four pro-life topics the guide covers. The voters guide relies on documentation from media outlets, comments from candidates, voting records, and research websites such as Project Vote Smart to compile the positions of each candidate.

“The first contests in the race for the Republican nomination are just around the corner. To better inform you, we looked beyond the rhetoric to the candidates’ actual records on the issues important to families,” FRC said in an email accompanying the guide. “This voter guide outlines candidate stances on issues that are important to the family. We researched the candidates’ statements and votes on the ten issues that best give voters an understanding on if the candidates match your values. Please use this resource as you think about who you would like to see be the nominee to challenge President Barack Obama.”

ABORTION: On the question of “Do you support or oppose taxpayer funding of abortions?” FRC has every one of the seven remaining Republican candidates listed as opposing direct taxpayer funding of abortions.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD:  When it comes to providing taxpayer funding for the nation’s biggest abortion business, six of the seven Republican candidates are listed as opposing federal funding. Jon Huntsman’s position is listed as unknown — although he recently told Red State, likely after the guide was compiled, that he would veto any congressional legislation that contains Planned Parenthood funding.

HUMAN CLONING:  It is on bioethics issues that FRC begins to delineate differences between the Republican candidates with the question, “Do you support or oppose federal legislation prohibiting human cloning of all kinds, both “therapeutic” and “reproductive”?”

Bachmann, Perry, Romney and Santorum are listed as supporting such legislation. But Gingrich is listed as opposing such a bill, citing a 2006 Discover magazine interview saying,  “I would not seek to ban research on stem cells in fertility clinics.”

FRC lists Huntsman’s position as unknown on human cloning, though the former campaign manager of Sen. Sam Brownback, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate who authored a human cloning ban in the Senate, backs Huntsman.  FRC lists Ron Paul as having a “mixed” view on human cloning — while he opposes the practice his states rights approach made it so he couldn’t support a ban on it federally.

STE CELL RESEARCH: The final pro-life issue covered in the Family Research Council guide is stem cell research and Bachmann, Paul, Perry and Santorum as listed as opposing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Gingrich is listed as “mixed” on the subject — having given past interviews saying he could support it and then recently issuing a statement in opposition.  Huntsman is listed as “mixed” as well — with past interviews saying he would support it and saying this year he would not.

Romney is also listed as “mixed” by FRC, as it cited a 2007 Boston Herald article that it considered when compiling the guide. No other further information is provided on the article. The issue of embryonic stem cell research is what prompted Romney to convert to the pro-life position and he vetoed a bill that would have promoted embryonic stem cell research.