Texas Gov Perry Better on Abortion, Bioethics Reublican Pro-Life Group Says
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 21, 2009
Austin,TX (LifeNews.com) — Texas Republicans will have a chance to vote in what could wind up as one of the most bitter and hard-fought primary elections outside of the presidential election. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has announced her candidacy to take on sitting pro-life Gov. Rick Perry, who has been in office for two terms.
The rub on Perry is that he has been the state’s governor for two full terms and the two final years of the term of President George W. Bush, who left Texas to become the president.
Interestingly, Hutchison won her Senate seat in 1993 and has spent the last 16 years in the position.
Yet, during his long tenure as the Texas governor, Perry has compiled a sterling pro-life record and, as Texas Alliance for Life points out, “has signed more pro-life bills into law than any governor in Texas.”
While issues of Perry’s long tenure and ability to win another four-year term next November are prominent on the minds of voters, Colleen Parro, the head of the Republican National Coalition for Life, tells LifeNews.com that a pro-life battle will also be at play.
"Governor Perry has been a supporter of pro-life legislation and has signed into law whatever pro-life bills were passed by the Texas legislature," Parro says.
While Perry’s pro-life track record is obvious, Hutchison’s record is spotty.
Hutchison has a strong pro-life record on abortion funding and pro-life legislation to limit abortions, she officially is pro-abortion and voted that way several years ago.
Hutchison reaffirmed her pro-abortion position in March 2003 with a vote in favor of an amendment to the partial-birth abortion ban supporting the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions.
"It is the sense of the Senate that the decision of the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade was appropriate and secures an important constitutional right; and such decision should not be overturned," the amendment read.
Parro says: "Rick Perry does not support the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. Senator Hutchison is on record as supporting legal abortion until viability, a position that essentially endorses 98% of all abortions being committed in this country."
Hutchison has also upset pro-life advocates with her repeated votes in favor of embryonic stem cell research funding. That has held down her voting record scores from the National Right to Life Committee in recent years.
While Hutchison has voted for a myriad of abortion limits — everything from banning taxpayer funding of abortions, to enforcing parental notification to prohibiting partial-birth abortions — the stem cell votes dropped her to an 85 percent in 2008 and 75 percent in the previous session.
Parro talked about those differences in her email to LifeNews.com.
"Unlike Senator Hutchison, Perry opposes research that involves the killing of human embryos," she explains. "Instead, he supports putting more money into research using non-embryonic stem cells which have produced the only treatments and cures achieved thus far."
"On the other hand, Senator Hutchison not only supports the unethical research, she has campaigned around the state urging taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research," she added.
While many voters are concerned about the length of Perry’s tenure, Parro says pro-life Texans should evaluate the candidates based on their pro-life records during their tenure.
"Pro-life and pro-family Texans should take a hard look at both candidates and evaluate their records, particularly on issues related to life and death," she concludes.
Related web sites:
Republican National Coalition for Life – https://www.rnclife.org
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