Pro-Life Issues Could Make My Pennsylvania Blue State Red for Pat Toomey
by Maria Vitale
LifeNews.com Opinion Columnist
June 18, 2010
LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Public Relations Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.
When citizen activists from across the country converge on the National Right to Life Convention June 24-26, they’ll be coming to a Blue State with a decidedly red streak.
A Blue State is one in which the Democratic Presidential candidate carries the state. Despite the considerable resources Republican John McCain poured into Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth gave its electoral votes to Democrat Barack Obama in 2008.
But this year, pro-abortion Democrats may be seeing red in PA. Former Republican Congressman Pat Toomey, who is pro-life, is waging an impressive campaign against pro-abortion Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak in the race to become Pennsylvania’s next U.S. Senator.
According to the National Right to Life website, on key votes, Sestak consistently voted against the pro-life position. He voted for the pro-abortion and pro-rationing Obama health care bill…voted against an amendment to stop federal funding of abortion under health care reform…and voted against denying funds to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation.
In sharp contrast, Toomey amassed a solid pro-life voting record while in Congress. His website proudly proclaims, “Pat is pro-life and believes that children should be welcomed into the world and protected by its laws.” He’s strongly opposed to taxpayer funding of abortion…believed in parental involvement in teenagers’ abortion decisions…and favors common sense policies that encourage adoption over abortion.
And, even in a Blue State, Toomey has a good shot at winning.
It is appropriate that Pennsylvania host the National Right to Life Convention for other reasons as well. The Keystone State has been a keystone of nation’s pro-life movement for decades.
Pennsylvania’s Abortion Control Act is a landmark law which provides for
informed consent for abortions, 24-hour waiting periods for abortions, and parental consent for abortions. Its provisions have been duplicated in statutes around the country. Pennsylvania is also known as the birthplace of public funding for abortion alternatives. Tax money once given to the abortion industry is now awarded to the state’s Alternatives to Abortion program, which is administered by Real Alternatives. The program, which has become a model for the nation, reimburses pregnancy resource centers, providing women with the counseling and support needed to make life-affirming decisions for themselves and their children.
As a result of the Abortion Control Act and the Alternatives to Abortion program, Pennsylvania’s abortion rate was cut in half.
Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation also boasted one of the nation’s highest pro-life voting records on partial-birth abortion. Eighteen of 21 House members—including nine Democrats—along with both Senators from Pennsylvania cast their votes to override pro-abortion President Bill Clinton’s veto of the partial-birth abortion ban.
When the history of the pro-life movement is written, 2010 may be remembered as the year when Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the Constitution, helped to restore Constitutional protections to preborn children. Our Founding Fathers—and Mothers!—would be proud.
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