Pro-Abortion Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand Replaces Hillary Clinton as New York Senator
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 23, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Kirsten Gillibrand, a pro-abortion New York congresswoman, has been named by Gov. David Patterson to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate. Clinton received an appointment from pro-abortion President Barack Obama to become the next Secretary of State.
For weeks, speculation had been on pro-abortion Carolyn Kennedy to replace Clinton in the coveted Senate seat, but she backed out of consideration.
As a member of the Senate, Gillibrand would give abortion advocates another vote and a reliable ally in the same manner as Clinton.
"She has not been in Congress long, but she has always voted against the pro-life side," National Right to Life legislative director Douglas Johnson told LifeNews.com.
Gillibrand compiled a pro-abortion voting record during her brief tenure in the House of Representatives in part by voting for a measure to overturn the Mexico City Policy. That’s the Bush administration protection making it so taxpayers don’t have to fund groups that promote or perform abortions overseas.
Gillibrand also voted against an amendment to a federal spending bill that would have denied family planning funding to groups like Planned Parenthood because they also do abortions.
She also is a sponsor of the so-called Prevention First Act, a measure that would send even more federal funds to the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
The new senator also upset pro-life advocates by repeatedly voting to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research that involves the destruction of human life. Embryonic stem cells have also never helped any human patients and had problems in animal testing.
In picking Gillibrand, Patterson found a candidate who would have a good shot of keeping the seat in the 2010 elections, as she is a prolific fundraiser, a woman and hails from upstate New York.
However, Gillibrand also hails from a historically Republican House seat and pro-life advocates may have an opportunity to replace her with a friendly lawmaker.
Speculation for Clinton’s seat also included the state’s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, and to Gillibrand, interestingly, as special counsel to Cuomo when he served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration.
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