A moderate Democrat from West Virginia could be one of the most powerful votes in the U.S. Senate – and the entire Congress – in the coming months.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, a rare pro-life Democrat, represents a strongly pro-life state. He recently supported bills to protect pain-capable unborn babies from late-term abortions and to protect newborn abortion survivors from infanticide. He also repeatedly has said he opposes his party’s push to end the Hyde Amendment and force taxpayers to pay for abortions.
Now, with the U.S. Senate split evenly between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats (Kamala Harris, a pro-abortion Democrat, would cast any tie-breaking votes), Manchin may be key to stopping Democrat leaders from enacting their radical pro-abortion agenda.
“As an increasing number of politicians in his party advocate radical changes such as abolishing the legislative filibuster, expanding Supreme Court, and adding new states to the union, Manchin will serve as a crucial, balancing swing vote in the Senate,” Alexandra Desanctis wrote at National Review this week.
Manchin has stood up against his party’s increasingly radical pro-abortion agenda for years. In 2016, he called the Democratic Party “crazy” when it adopted a platform calling for taxpayer-funded abortions, a widely unpopular position.
Last week, he reiterated his support for the Hyde Amendment, telling National Review: “Repealing the Hyde Amendment would be foolish, and I’m strongly opposed to this push from some Members of Congress. If this legislation is brought before the Senate, I will vote against repealing the Hyde Amendment.”
Forcing taxpayers to fund abortions by ending the Hyde Amendment is high on the list of Democrat leaders’ priorities for 2021, and House leaders already held a committee hearing on it.
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Manchin is expected to face an intense tug-of-war between his party’s radical leftist leaders and the conservative voters in his state in the coming months. And Desanctis wondered how strong the senator will be on other issues like confirming Joe Biden’s radically pro-abortion cabinet choices and judicial nominees.
“In those cases, Manchin’s long-time pro-life witness would be put to the test, and his choice to stand firm would be especially courageous,” she wrote.
While the senator has been strong on some pro-life issues, his voting record is mixed. He voted to confirm U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, but he opposed the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett last year. He also has supported taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, which does more than one third of all abortions in the U.S. National Right to Life puts his pro-life voting record at 63 percent.
Tim Chapman, executive director of Stand for America, said conservatives need to encourage Manchin to stay strong in his convictions.
“Joe Manchin will oppose eliminating the filibuster and court packing,” Chapman wrote on Twitter, linking to a RollCall article about the senator’s positions. “Conservatives should hold him to it and help him stick to his word — especially when [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer inevitably threatens him and brings the weight of the whole Dem party down on him.”
Democrat Party leaders are pushing a radical pro-abortion agenda, and they now control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
If Biden and his party do what they promised, abortions could increase across America. Not only does Biden plan to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns it, he also wants to end the Hyde Amendment and force taxpayers to pay for elective abortions.
More than 800,000 unborn babies are aborted every year in America, and about 62 million have been aborted since 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court forced states to legalize abortion on demand. Without the Hyde Amendment, researchers at the Charlotte Lozier Institute predict 60,000 more unborn babies could be killed in abortions each year.
In April, Biden went so far as to call the killing of unborn babies an “essential medical service” during the coronavirus pandemic. His health care plan would expand abortions as well by forcing insurance companies to cover abortions as “essential” health care under Obamacare.
Biden and Democrat leaders also promised to undo all of President Donald Trump’s progress for life, including restoring funding to the billion-dollar abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
