Pro-Life Democrat Sen. Bob Casey’s Credentials Questioned After Abortion Vote
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 29, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — When it comes to members of Congress, pro-life Democrats are few and far between. When Pennsylvania residents elected Bob Casey to replace pro-life Sen. Rick Santorum, pro-life advocates hoped he would represent the same pro-life views of his father, but that hasn’t always been the case.
Although Casey claims a pro-life position and has sponsored a bill that will help pregnant women and reduce the number of abortions, Casey has cast several votes that have caused headaches for pro-life groups.
His latest came this week when he failed to join the Senate’s other pro-life Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, in supporting an amendment to restore the Mexico City Policy.
That’s the federal provision that makes it so taxpayers are not forced to fund groups that promote or perform abortions in other countries and the vote was the second Casey cast in his tenure against it.
Casey abandoned his pro-life colleagues and joined the majority of Senate Republicans and Democrats who support abortion by voting against the amendment to restore the pro-life protections.
Neither Casey’s Senate office nor officials with Democrats for Life of America responded to requests from LifeNews.com for comment, but Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, wasn’t pleased by the vote.
"With the support of Republicans and only one Democrat, Senator Nelson, the effort failed 60-37," he said. "Sadly, Senator Bob Casey, who claims to value life as much as his father did, voted once again to force taxpayers to promote abortion overseas."
Perkins said the vote, combined with Casey’s steadfast support for pro-abortion President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, calls his pro-life bona fides into question.
"The Pennsylvania Senator used a lot of his capital as a so-called pro-life Democrat to help President Obama get elected. The question to all the pro-life groups that have lent him credibility on the issue is–how many strikes before Casey is out?" he said.
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