Pro-Life Groups Respond to Tea Party Activists Calling for Abortion Backdown

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 15, 2010   |   5:52PM   |   Washington, DC

The letter jointing signed by Republican gay rights activists and a small group of Tea Party leaders has sent shockwaves throughout the pro-life movement.

Two leading pro-life organizations issued a swift response to the letter, which calls for ignoring social issues like abortion in exchange for focusing on the economy.

Concerned Women for America leader Penny Nance told LifeNews.com that social issues shouldn’t be set aside and, instead, should share an equal level of important with fiscal issues in the next session of Congress.

“Social issues should be at the very top of the list of priorities for the new Congress, along with sensible fiscal policies,” she said.

Nance says internal post-election polling her organization conducted showed American voters in the mid-term elections were enthusiastic about pro-life and other social issues as much as they were the economy.

“Americans voted overwhelmingly for both social and fiscal conservatives, and it would be unwise to throw social policies to the wayside and snub the voters who sent a strong message to the new Congress that they want both pro-life and fiscally conservative policies. In our post-election poll, when asked to name the biggest issue facing future generations, 62 percent of voters said it is the moral decline of our nation,” she said.

Kristan Hawkins, the director of Students for Life of America, also told LifeNews.com she is upset by the joint letter the GOProud organizers signed with the group of Tea Party activists.

“Tea Party leaders who have called for Congress to ignore social issues are forgetting how important the pro-life issue is, especially after the passage of Obamacare,” she said. “What these leaders fail to realize is that protecting the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception is the first responsibility of government.”

“The youth of America have shown that they are also concerned about social issues as well as fiscal issues. Ignoring the voice of the American people and important issues like abortion will be the fastest way to kill the Tea Party,” she added.

Last week, Concerned Women for America sent a memo to Republican leaders outlining three specific priorities the new Congress must address in the wake of the first pro-life majority in the House since Roe v. Wade.

“I’d like to know which one — support for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, eliminating taxpayer dollars from funding embryonic stem cell research, or defunding Planned Parenthood — the signers of the GOProud letter have a problem with,” Nance said.

“There was a net 52-seat pro-life gain in the House of Representatives, an unprecedented statement that voters reject taxpayer-funded abortion and want a more conservative, pro-life legislature moving forward.  Now is not the time for Republicans to back away from their own party’s foundational social issues,” she concluded.