Democrats in Michigan are facing criticism from pro-life advocates for silencing a pro-life candidate wanting to participate in a candidate event.
On July 16, Right to Life of Michigan PAC-endorsed candidate Bob Costello was prevented from speaking at a forum for congressional candidates in the 14th Congressional District and was forced to leave the forum after attempting to speak. The forum was supposed to be an open forum for the Democratic congressional candidates of the 14th District but Costello (who is one of the five Democratic candidates on the ballot) wasn’t invited.
As RLM indicates, “Costello, a prolife Democrat, was one of four congressional candidates who attended the event even though he was threatened with arrest if he attempted to speak at this event by the president of the Grosse Pointe Democratic Club. Costello believes his pro-life beliefs were the reason he wasn’t invited to the event and was prevented from speaking.”
“The main focus of Costello’s campaign is the protection of religious freedom which Obamacare’s HHS mandate violates by forcing religious institutions which operate schools and hospitals to violate their beliefs by providing coverage for services they object to,” RLM said. “The other candidates who attended the forum (Gary Peters, Mary Waters and Brenda Lawrence) remained shamelessly silent as their co-candidate was prevented from speaking.”
Costello has been very public with his opposition to the Obama HHS mandate.
“As an attorney, a Catholic, and an American, I am stunned, angered, and worried by the federal government ordering Catholics and the Catholic Church to violate our long held religious and moral values,” he says. “Washington’s mandate to have Catholic schools, colleges, hospitals, social service agencies , homeless shelters and all other charitable enterprises provide for birth control, sterilization and some abortion inducing drugs to their employees or pay huge fines is exactly what the 1st Amendment is meant to prevent.”
“It makes no difference why the federal government is doing this. The only important point is that they are restricting religious freedom,” Costello continued. “This is just not a Catholic matter. All people of religious belief should be worried. If Washington targets Catholics, the largest US religious body – 59 million people – what will the government do to other religious groups? If the federal government restricts religious freedom, it opens the door to further restrictions on religious freedom, and to restrictions on our other basic First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”
Bob is an attorney and worked as a magistrate of the 36th District Court (Detroit) for 22 years. He retired from the Court in 2011. He decided over 380,000 cases. Bob also has been an employment counselor, a school teacher, a UAW factory worker and a laborer. Bob Costello is the 2011 recipient of the Monsignor Malloy Award, the highest honor given by the Catholic Lawyers Society of Detroit.
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For more information about Bob Costello’s candidacy visit www.bobcostelloforcongress.com.
