Hillary Clinton Raises $ for Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, Abortion Groups Upset 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 12, 2006
Chicago, IL (LifeNews.com) — Hillary Clinton is in trouble again with abortion advocates. The pro-abortion New York senator made a donation to the campaign of Pennsylvania senate candidate Bob Casey before and, on Tuesday spearheaded a fundraiser for him in a Chicago hotel.
Clinton headlined the fundraiser for Casey, who opposes abortion and has been ahead in the polls against incumbent pro-life Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican. However, Casey has been behind 2-1 in fundraising.
Clinton has said previously that she supports Casey’s candidacy despite his pro-life views on abortion because he would provide Democrats with another vote in their attempt to take over the Senate. Should they replace Republicans and control the chamber, pro-life legislation would likely not receive votes on the Senate floor or in committee.
Joanne Tosti-Vasey, the president of the National Organization for Women’s Pennsylvania chapter, told the New York Daily News she was disappointed with Clinton’s continued efforts to elect Casey.
"I am disappointed she’s going against the Democratic policy and is helping a candidate who does not support women’s reproductive rights," she said.
Ann Lewis, a longtime abortion advocate and former spokeswoman for Bill Clinton, told the newspaper that Hillary "is not the only pro-choice woman who has concluded that America will be better off with Bob Casey in the U.S. Senate than Rick Santorum."
In fact, former NARAL president Kate Michelman announced last month that she would not enter the race as an independent and said the state would be "better served" by electing Casey over Santorum.
Santorum has been a staunch pro-life advocate in the Senate, leading the charge on the ban on partial-birth abortions and arguing against overturning President Bush’s limits on using taxpayer dollars to pay for embryonic stem cell research. That’s prompted Clinton to favor a changing of the guard.
"Regardless of what differences there may be among Democrats, the differences between Democrats and Republicans today could not be starker," Clinton said in February.
"And if we can move toward a Democratic majority, we can prevent some of the ill-advised legislation and nominations we have to deal with from ever seeing the light of day," she added.
Clinton previously donated $10,000 to the Casey campaign — the maximum amount her political action committee, HillPAC can give under campaign finance laws.
The fundraiser was held at Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton. News reports indicate Clinton’s speech was more focused on general policy than Casey’s candidacy, indicating she still harbors national ambitions.
