Pro-Life Group Gives Florida Pro-Abortion Congressman Meek Sarcastic "Award"
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 24, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The National Right to Life Committee has unveiled a new tongue-in-cheek award for lawmakers who say one thing and do the opposition. NRLC’s first "Phony-Baloney Citation" goes to pro-abortion Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Florida congressman who says he wants common ground on abortion but only promotes it.
In a letter Meek signed that a handful of Democrats sent to pro-abortion House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Meek claimed to seek "common ground" on abortion in the White House-backed healthcare "reform" proposals pending in Congress.
However, just last week, Meek voted in the House Ways and Means Committee against amendments to prevent the bill from mandating elective abortion coverage and to prevent federal subsidies for elective abortion.
Since coming to Congress in 2003, Meek has voted against the pro-life position on the House floor 30 times, NRLC notes.
He has never cast a pro-life vote in Congress on an abortion-related issue, not even partial-birth abortion, parental notification, or to protect pregnant women and their unborn children who are victims of violence.
In awarding the "Phony-Baloney Citation," NRLC federal legislative director Douglas Johnson told LifeNews.com, "In light of his extreme pro-abortion voting record, Rep. Meek’s call for ‘common ground’ reeks of brazen political posturing, and warrants this special citation."
The citation is given to Meek "in recognition of your brazen hypocrisy in calling for ‘common ground’ on abortion when you have consistently voted for federal funding of abortion and against all limits on abortion, including partial-birth abortions."
The letter to Pelosi came from Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, a formerly pro-life lawmaker who is now working with abortion advocates on a fake bill that gives money to Planned Parenthood.
Three other Democratic lawmakers who sometimes vote pro-life also signed their names to the letter, including Dale Kildee of Michigan, Jim Langevin of Rhode Island and Artur Davis of Alabama.
"As health care reform legislation moves quickly through the three House committees and is considered by the full chamber over the next several weeks, we are increasingly concerned about potential roadblocks around the issue of abortion," the lawmakers tell Pelosi.
They say they "want to make sure that disagreements over this often-contentious issue don’t threaten the success of the final health care reform package."
"Therefore, we believe that a common ground solution is to include language in the final legislation that makes clear that no insurance company will be required to pay for an abortion except in extraordinary circumstances," the letter states.
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