Senator Lugar Becomes Second Republican to Back Pro-Abortion Elena Kagan
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 22, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a pro-life moderate who sometimes upsets his party and pro-life advocates, has announced he will become the second Republican to support the nomination of pro-abortion Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court.
Lugar said he would vote for Kagan because she is "clearly qualified" and "has demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge of court history and decisions."
"I believe that she has had a distinguished career in both education and public service and is well-regarded by the legal community and her peers," Lugar said in a statement.
But Lugar’s announcement is already drawing opposition from conservatives in his state.
State Sen. Mike Delph, a Republican legislator, called Lugar’s decision to back the ardent abortion advocate "disappointing."
"Elena Kagan, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, are all very liberal," Delph said, according to the Indianapolis Star. "None of these individuals is worthy of Hoosier support as they are all out of step with Main Street Indiana."
"He needs to be mindful of how people in Indiana view these nominees," Delph added.
Micah Clark, the executive director of the pro-life American Family Association of Indiana, was equally upset with the state’s senior senator.
"Senator Lugar needs to retire and allow new representation in Washington, D.C., just as the junior senator from Indiana is doing," the longtime Hoosier pro-life advocate told the newspaper.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who is also pro-life, was the first and only Republican to announce support for Kagan’s nomination until Lugar joined him. They are expected to be joined by other GOP lawmakers since it appears virtually certain that Republicans will not be able to stop Kagan on the Senate floor with a filibuster.
Lugar and Graham have both side they believe presidents ought to have the ability to appoint members of the Supreme Court of their choice without opposition. Lugar supported the nomination of pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg but opposed pro-abortion Justice Stephen Breyer.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Kagan’s nomination on a 13-6 vote with Graham joining all pro-abortion Democrats and all other pro-life Republicans opposing her.
A new Gallup poll shows just a plurality of Americans support Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court and support for the pro-abortion Solicitor General is lower than the support for any recent previous Supreme Court nominee days before their committee vote.
During questioning at the hearings, lawmakers questioned Kagan on memos she wrote during the Clinton administration “manipulating” the opinions of two medical groups that had said partial-birth abortions are never medically necessary for women.
Kagan also sought to influence the American Medical Association and get the AMA to revise its opinion that partial-birth abortions provide no medical benefit for women.
Senators asked Kagan about the memos during Judiciary Committee hearings and she explained her actions away by saying she wanted to help ACOG form a more accurate opinion.
The memos are important because the Supreme Court initially relied on the opinion of the medical groups to overturn a state ban on partial-birth abortions that had no health exception.
Later, the Supreme Court reversed itself and said a national partial-birth abortion ban was constitutional and no health exception is necessary.
Pro-life groups have described Elena Kagan as the stereotypical judicial activist and abortion advocate.
She clerked for pro-abortion Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom she lauded, and her writings dating back to her college days are filled with accolades for judges who took the law into their hands and twisted it for a desired outcome rather than relying on the people through their elected officials.
Kagan helped Bill Clinton defend his veto of a partial-birth abortion ban — the gruesome abortion procedure when a baby is birthed halfway and then jabbed in the head with medical scissors, killing him or her. She helped Clinton find political cover for his decision to keep those abortions legal.
Kagan went as far as advocating that the Clinton administration not only ignore but manipulate the opinion of a national medical group that said there was never any medical justification for killing unborn children halfway out of the birth canal.
Kagan has also lauded human cloning and assisted suicide and we can expect those gruesome practices to expand if she becomes the next Supreme Court justice.
ACTION: Contact your senators here and urge a no vote on Kagan’s nomination and tell them to filibuster her. Contact Luagr’s office at (202) 224-4814 or email him here.
Related web sites:
Petition Against Kagan – https://www.iopposekagan.com
Facebook: Stop Kagan
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