Bart Stupak May Retire From Congress After Massive Abortion-Health Care Battle

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 7, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Bart Stupak May Retire From Congress After Massive Abortion-Health Care Battle

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 7
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Congressman Bart Stupak, the formerly respected pro-life Democratic leader from Michigan, is reportedly considering retiring from Congress. Stupak is said to be so exhausted, along with his family, from the bruising repercussions of the abortion and health care debate he may consider quitting.

Stupak had been holding his finger in the dam for months standing with several pro-life Democrats against the health care bill and its massive abortion funding.

But when he and a few of his colleagues decided to trade their votes for an executive order from President Barack Obama that claims to stop abortion funding but doesn’t, Stupak incurred the wrath of the pro-life movement.

Now, MSNBC reports Stupak may be on the brink of calling it quits.

"The Democrat best known this year as the Democrat who delivered the winning margin of votes for the president’s health-care reform bill is said to be simply exhausted. The criticism he received — first from the left, and then from the right — has worn him and his family out," the television news station reports. "And if he had to make the decision now, he’d probably not run."

"As of this writing, a bunch of senior Democrats (many of the same ones who twisted his arm on the health care vote) are trying to talk him into running. The filing deadline in Michigan is still a month away, but veterans of that state’s politics are skeptical anyone other than Stupak can hold that district in this political climate," MSNBC continues.

The upper peninsula district Stupak holds has been a traditionally Republican one that Stupak has kept because he is a much more conservative Democrat than most.

However, he faces stiff competition from both the left and right as abortion advocates recruited a credible candidate to challenge him in the Democratic primary.

After his perceived sellout on abortion funding, pro-life advocates leapt on the bandwagon of his Republican opponents and they have raised more money and recruited more supporters than they would have otherwise to mount what will be a competitive campaign in November.

Stupak didn’t help his cause after his vote for the pro-abortion bill by attacking pro-life advocates and he has been asked to stop doing so.

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