After Voting for Bill Legalizing Abortions Up to Birth, Bob Casey is No Longer “Pro-Life”

Opinion   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Mar 1, 2022   |   12:48PM   |   Washington, DC

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. needs to be honest with his constituents about where his loyalties are: to the promises he made to voters or to the pro-abortion activists who basically control the Democratic Party.

A Pennsylvania Democrat and a Catholic, Casey has professed to be pro-life for many years, but, on Monday, he voted with his party to advance a radical pro-abortion bill that would have forced states to legalize abortions up to birth.

It appears that Casey, who also recently was seen at a pro-abortion group’s fundraiser, is caving to party pressure to support abortion on demand. His voting record on life in recent years has leaned more pro-abortion than pro-life, and his vote Monday confirmed these leanings, according to Townhall.

Follow LifeNews on the MeWe social media network for the latest pro-life news free from Facebook’s censorship!

Ahead of the vote, the Pennsylvania senator defended his decision to support ending debate and allowing a final vote on the misleadingly named Women’s Health Protection Act.

“Given the recent Supreme Court rulings, potential rulings this year, and the Republican Party’s clear and unrelenting use of this issue as a political weapon, I will vote ‘yes’ to allow debate on this bill,” Casey said in a statement.

He also emphasized his “long” commitment to reducing unplanned pregnancies and abortions, and his hope that debate on the bill “will also focus on new and substantial funding for pregnant women, infants and children.”

But Townhall writer Rebecca Downs pointed out that the bill would not do any of these things.

“Nowhere in the bill’s text however, which reads as extreme as one can get when it comes to promoting abortion, is there mention of reducing abortions or for looking after pregnant women, infants, and children other than to impose abortion on them,” Downs wrote.

Casey did not sponsor the bill, but even voting to advance such radical pro-abortion legislation shows his willingness to compromise on a matter on which there should be no compromising: babies’ lives.

Pro-life advocates nicknamed the bill the Abortion Without Limits Up to Birth Act, saying it would get rid of laws that protect unborn babies from late-term and partial-birth abortions, bans on taxpayer funding for abortions, parental consent and more.

Other rights also were in jeopardy. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the bill “would also likely force health care providers and professionals to perform, assist in, and/or refer for abortion against their deeply-held beliefs, as well as force employers and insurers to cover or pay for abortion.”

CatholicVote communications director Joshua Mercer called out Casey specifically for abandoning his Catholic constituents after the vote.

“Catholics are tired of seeing their faith used as a political football on the campaign trail, then thrown aside by Catholic political figures when they need to vote along the party line against the Church’s most fundamental moral teachings,” Mercer said. “Casey and quite a few other Catholics showed us their true colors. And you can bet American Catholics will respond at the ballot box.”

Notably, Catholics for Choice, a pro-abortion group not affiliated with the Catholic Church, also mentioned Casey by name while thanking lawmakers who supported the pro-abortion bill.

“For the 68% of U.S. Catholics who support the legal abortion protections in Roe v. Wade, today’s vote is an important amplification of our Catholic social justice values,” said organization president Jamie L. Manson. “We thank the 46 members of the Senate, including 13 Catholics like Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bob Casey (D-PA), who voted to advance the Women’s Health Protection Act.”

Casey’s pro-life stance has been doubtful for several years, but his vote Monday confirmed that he is committed to his party, not the unborn. Perhaps, the power of pro-abortion lobbying groups and the billions of dollars they spend each year on was too much for Casey to resist.

Stronger men like Casey’s father and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin have resisted. The two Democrat leaders maintained a principled stance for the right to life for unborn babies, despite constant pressure to cave to their party’s pro-abortion platform. On Monday, Manchin was the only Democrat in the Senate who voted against the radical pro-abortion bill.

The late Gov. Bob Casey Sr. also was a pro-life champion who fought Planned Parenthood in court and established the hugely successful alternatives to abortion program to support mothers in choosing life for their unborn babies.

America needs strong, principled political leaders who do what they promise, honest men and women who stand up for human rights for all human beings, even when it’s difficult. Casey Jr. has shown that he is just a weak-willed follower.