Harry Reid has been the thorn in the side of the pro-life movement for years — preventing votes on signficant legislation that has the ability to stop abortions and stop taxpayer financing of abortions. Democratic control of the Senate has also prevented the pro-life movement from successfully overturning Obamacare, which funds abortions and rations health care.
Cory Gardner, a pro-life Congressman from Colorado, hopes to help pro-life advocates gain control of the Senate from Reid and to put it back in pro-life hands. Gardner is a longtime pro-life advocate who maintains a 100% pro-life voting record in the House.
During his tenure, Gardner has voted 100% pro-life, casting pro-life votes 14 out of 14 times since he was elected to Congress. Gardner has voted to stop taxpayer funding of abortions, he’s repeatedly voted against Obamacare and funding or Obamacare, he’s voted for legislation to ban late-term abortions, he’s voted to de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business and to ban sex-selection abortions.
Gardner is also a sponsor of the Life at Conception act, a pro-life bill establishing the scientific fact that human life begins at conception.
As a candidate for elected office, Gardner previously supported two ballot efforts pushing personhood amendments. Although such amendments have little chance of banning any abortions without first changing the makeup of the Supreme Court, Gardner believes that unborn children are human persons whose lives begin at conception. But, because Colorado voters defeated the first two attempts by wide margins, Gardner thinks it’s time for a new strategy and has said he won’t support efforts to push another personhood amendment this year.
Colorado rejected the amendment twice in both 2010 and 2008. The 2010 amendment lost by a 70-30 percentage point margin as Amendment 62 failed to gain a majority in any Colorado county. Colorado voters defeated Amendment 48 in 2008 by a 73-27 percentage margin with 1,605,978 voters rejecting it compared to 585,561 who were supportive. The 2010 Colorado personhood amendment received the support of more than 100,000 fewer voters than in 2008.
Gardner also is not on board this time around because he saw what happened to a fellow pro-life advocate who endorsed the measure. Some pro-life advocates say the personhood amendment also contributed to the potential defeat of pro-life Senate candidate Ken Buck and the election of pro-abortion Sen. Michael Bennet.
Buck endorsed the amendment, but was pummeled by millions of dollars in television commercials making the false claim that he opposed birth control and contraception because of his stance on it. The Republican eventually had to withdraw his support for the amendment so his position would not be misconstrued. After he withdrew his support, personhood amendment supporters ravaged Buck and criticized him as supposedly casting aside his heartfelt pro-life views.
That is happening to Gardner now.
Under a false headline, “Congressman Cory Gardner confesses pro-choice position,” Personhood USA is attempting to mislead pro-life voters into thinking Garnder is not pro-life.
“Cory Gardner has betrayed the Republican Party, his pro-life voters, and most importantly, unborn babies in Colorado,” commented Jennifer Mason, Personhood Spokesperson.
Obviously, this isn’t the case. Unfortunately, Personhood USA confuses a difference of opinion on pro-life strategy with a difference of opinion on pro-life principles.
The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List endorsed Gardner when he first ran for Congress and confirmed his pro-life bonafides.
“The contrast between Cory Gardner and Betsy Markey is clear,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Cory Gardner has consistently voted to protect Life in the Colorado State House while EMILY’s List favorite Betsy Markey has voted in lock-step with the pro-abortion Obama-Pelosi administration. Unlike Betsy Markey, Cory Gardner will protect the hard-earned tax dollars of Colorado families from funding abortion. He is the better candidate for women and all Coloradans.”
Unlike Harry Reid and his friends who control the Senate, Cory Gardner will give the pro-life movement another vote and the potential to actually pass legislation that will stop abortions and abortion funding. At a critical time when the rest of the pro-life movement is working in unison to win control of the Senate and stop abortion, Personhood USA should stop misleading pro-lifers about our pro-life candidates.
