Senator Harry Reid Challenged to Stand Up for Supposed Pro-Life Abortion View
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 4, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Decades ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was once so pro-life that he co-sponsored a human life amendment in Congress that would have resulted in prohibiting abortions nationwide. Now, he is a shadow of his former pro-life self and won’t even commit to stopping taxpayer funded abortions.
The watering down of his pro-life views has gotten him to the point that he hasn’t earned a 100% pro-life voting record from the National Right to Life Committee in many years — in fact he is 100% pro-abortion on three votes in 2009.
As the prime sponsor of the government-run health care bill in the Senate, Reid is poised to preside over the greatest expansion of federal funding of abortions in the nation’s history.
Reid won’t commit to supporting the Nelson-Hatch amendment to his health care bill that could receive a vote as early as this weekend or sometime next week. The amendment would remove the abortion funding Reid paves the way for through the public option and affordability credits in his legislation.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Reid from telling constituents he’s pro-life.
"I oppose abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk," he told a Nevada resident in a recent letter, according to a CNS News report.
Instead of advancing solid pro-life principles, Reid tells his constituent he favors binging pro-life and pro-abortion sides together via some form of compromise that would almost assuredly fall short of protecting unborn children from abortions.
"As the Senate Majority Leader and the senior senator from Nevada, I am committed to working to find common ground that brings our nation together while respecting both the views of those who differ as well as the values many of us hold deeply," he wrote.
The Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life women’s group, has been airing television commercials in Nevada seeking to hold him accountable to his pr-life claims.
Contacted for comment, SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews.com she is disappointed that "Reid does not assure readers he would support an authentic exclusion of government-funded abortion from health care reform."
“Senator Reid is a man divided. He needs to decide who he is," she said. "Is Reid a pro-life Senator, true to his Nevada roots, who will work to protect innocent human life at every turn? Or is he a hardened Washington politico, an inside the Beltway horse-trader willing to make personal compromises for short-term political gain?"
"Does Senator Reid really believe what he said in that letter? If he truly believes all human life deserves protection, there is simply no room for compromise in health care reform," Dannenfelser continued.
As part of its Votes Have Consequences project, the Susan B. Anthony List has funded $130,000 in television, radio ads and educational phone calls across Nevada calling on Senator Reid to defend Life in health care reform.
The pro-life group informed LifeNews.com it plans to renew its ad buys in mid-December.
The Susan B. Anthony List also delivered a letter to Reid signed by 15 pro-life leaders earlier this year, urging the senator to cease calling himself “pro-life” as long has he supports the inclusion of abortion in health care reform.
Related web sites:
SBA List – https://www.sba-list.org
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