Texas Governor Hopeful Kay Bailey Hutchison Under Fire for Missing Pro-Life Vote
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 15, 2009
Austin, TX (LifeNews.com) — Texas gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison is coming under fire from a prominent pro-life group for missing an important pro-life vote. Texas Right to Life is blasting Hutchison, who is taking on pro-life Gov. Rick Perry in the hotly contested Republican primary early next year.
In a new email to supporters, Texas Right to Life opens with a huge picture of pro-life leaders across the state meeting with Perry.
"Pro-lifers trust Gov. Rick Perry," the headline reads. "Senator Hutchison missed the chance to oppose the promotion of the most anti-life judge in the country."
The email refers to the cloture vote on President Barack Obama’s nomination of pro-abortion federal judge David Hamilton to serve on a federal appeals court.
The Senate voted on November 17 on cloture to stop the pro-life Republican filibuster, and the cloture vote succeeded 70-29. Hutchison was the only senator from either party to miss the vote.
Later, senators ultimately voted to approve the Hamilton nomination by a 59-39 margin with Hutchison voting with Republicans against it.
Texas Right to Life calls the missed vote on cloture "another example why we won’t take the chance on human life with Senator Hutchison."
"Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison missed an important pro-life vote, her 24th miss this year," the group explains. "The U.S. Senate took a cloture vote on the nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh Court of Appeals, and Senator Hutchison missed the vote on this rabid pro-abortion activist nominee."
‘She was in Houston raising money for her campaign for governor when we needed her to stand against judicial activism and to stand for Life during this vote," the group criticized.
TRTL criticized Hamilton for issuing a ruling that "blocked for seven years the enforcement of an Indiana Informed Consent Law that would require a legal guardian to approve of an abortion for a minor."
The law also provided information to women about abortion’s risks and alternatives that has proven successful in stopping abortions in other states.
"Texas passed the Womans Right to Know law in 2003, and our law has never been challenged in the courts. If it were, would you be comforted to know that Senator Hutchison let someone like Judge Hamilton slide onto the bench?" the pro-life group asked in its email.
"In contrast, Governor Perry has appointed more men and women to Texas benches than any other governor in Texas history. All his judicial appointees adhere to the Founders philosophy that the Constitution is the rule of law and not subject to ones own ideology," the group said. "Would Senator Hutchison appoint someone like Judge Hamilton? Why take the chance on human life?"
The criticism of Hutchison comes after another Texas pro-life group, the Texas Alliance for Life, endorsed Perry.
Related web sites:
Texas Right to Life – https://www.TexasRighttoLife.com
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