Beto O’Rourke was one of more than 20 Democrats hoping to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. He had a 100-percent pro-abortion voting record and opposed a bill to protect newborns from infanticide.
But the former Texas congressman decided to drop out after lackluster results, a low polling and fundraising standing, and the inability to better connect with voters.
The former Texas congressman made the announcement on Friday in a series of tweets, saying, “I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee.”
“I am grateful to all the people who made up the heart and soul of this campaign. You were among the hundreds of thousands who made a donation, signed up to volunteer or spread the word about this campaign and our opportunity to help decide the election of our lifetime,” he said.
“Let us continue to fearlessly champion the issues and causes that brought us together,” he continued. “We will work to ensure that the Democratic nominee is successful in defeating Donald Trump in 2020. I can tell you firsthand from having the chance to know the candidates, we will be well served by any one of them, and I’m going to be proud to support whoever she or he is.”
“Thank you for making this campaign possible, and for continuing to believe that we can turn this moment of great peril into a moment of great promise for America and the world,” he concluded.
The biggest peril of a possible O’Rourke presidency would have been his abortion advocacy.
Last month, he announced he would force Americans to fund abortions with their tax dollars if he is elected president.
“It’s long past time that we level the playing field and fully address the inequalities women still face in America today,” the former Texas congressman told Salon.
To achieve equality with men, O’Rourke believes women need to be allowed to abort their unborn babies – and have taxpayers pay for them.
His plan calls for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, a long-standing, bi-partisan measure that prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions in Medicare, according to the report. It also would force private insurance companies to cover abortions.
Abortion activists claim taxpayers need to pay for abortions because low income women often struggle to afford abortions. O’Rourke seemed to echo this talking point.
“We must continue to call out the barriers and inequalities women encounter every day, champion women in opportunities for advancement, and defend women against targeted violence and discrimination,” he said.
Click Like if you are pro-life to like the LifeNews Facebook page!
He also said he would advocate for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would amend the U.S. Constitution to guarantee equal rights for all born citizens no matter what their sex is. Pro-life advocates long have warned that abortion activists would use the amendment to destroy the limited protections that America provides to unborn babies.
He vows to make the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade a part of federal law, so that it would stand even if Roe is overturned, and “appointing judges who respect Roe v. Wade as the settled law of the land.” He also promises, if elected, to reverse the Trump administration’s [Title X rule, which defunded Planned Parenthood of about $60 million] and to direct the Food and Drug Administration to remove “labeling instructions that impose barriers to medication-based abortions.”
The FDA regulates abortion drugs for important reasons, though. Not only are they deadly to unborn babies, they also can be deadly to mothers when not taken under the proper supervision of a doctor. What’s more, there are very real concerns that, without the regulations, the drugs easily could be obtained by abusive individuals who want to force women to abort their unborn babies. LifeNews already has reported on several such cases.
O’Rourke’s abortion plan, like those of the other Democratic presidential candidates, would hurt women and expand the destruction of unborn babies’ lives in America.
It is not what Americans want, either. A Gallup poll, released in June, found 60 percent of Americans take a pro-life position on abortion, wanting all (21 percent) or almost all (39 percent) abortions made illegal. Another poll from Harvard CAPS/Harris this spring found that just 6 percent of Americans said abortions should be allowed “up until the birth of the child,” while only 8 percent said they should be permitted up to the third trimester. Polls consistently show strong opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions as well.
