Abortion Advocate Pelosi May Not Be Speaker if Democrats Win House 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 20, 2006
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — One of the top fears for pro-life advocates is that an abortion activist may become the Speaker of the House should Democrats gain control of the Congressional chamber following next month’s elections. However, a handful of pro-life Democrats may attempt to swing the leadership elections to another candidate.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would be in line to become Speaker should Democrats prevail next month, but Democratic candidates like Charlie Stuart in Florida, Health Schuler in North Carolina and Ken Lucas in Kentucky say they may not support her.
Those votes, combined with pro-life Democratic lawmakers like Charles Taylor of Mississippi could shift the leadership vote to someone else, especially if Democrats win control of the House by a slim one or two vote margin.
Stuart told the Washington Times he doesn’t support Pelosi, a pro-abortion activist from San Francisco who has pushed the party’s pro-abortion stance as its leader.
He favors Rep. Steny Hoyer, the current number two Democrat in the House, to take over as leader.
Unfortunately for pro-life advocates, Hoyer, viewed as more conservative on other issues than Pelosi, is a staunch abortion advocate who repeatedly compiled zero percent pro-life ratings from the National Right to Life Committee.
Pelosi may counter the threats from conservatives in her party by choosing Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania to run with her for the Majority Leader spot. Murtha has become a leading voice in his party over the U.S. efforts in Iraq and is conservative on a number of political issues.
Murtha opposes abortion, but he upset pro-life advocates with his votes for taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research and refusing to allow Terri Schiavo’s parents to have federal courts review their case to prevent her euthanasia death.
Should conservative Democrats fail to support Pelosi for Speaker, current pro-life House Speaker Denny Hastert could win enough votes. But with control of the chamber, Democrats would likely try to find a compromise candidate like Murtha or Hoyer to replace Pelosi as their leader.
But pro-life groups hope those scenarios don’t develop. They would like to keep the House in pro-life hands after the elections.
