The Last Pro-Life Democrat in Congress is Fighting for His Political Life

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   May 23, 2022   |   6:24PM   |   Washington, DC

The last pro-life Democrat in the U.S. House, Henry Cuellar, of Texas, is battling for his political seat against a pro-abortion challenger backed by the billion-dollar abortion industry.

Cuellar faces pro-abortion “progressive” Jessica Cisneros in a run-off election Tuesday. Political groups are watching the race closely, wondering if the U.S. Supreme Court leak on abortion will motivate more pro-abortion voters to head to the polls.

The pro-life Democrat represents a moderate district with a large population of Latino and Catholic voters. Some Democrats both publicly and privately have expressed concerns that Cisneros’s left-wing views could lose the district for the party if she wins the primary, according to Politico.

Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life, told the Washington Times that the party is losing voters because of its extreme pro-abortion politics.

“The progressive wing of the Democratic Party really doesn’t care about the health of the Democratic Party itself,” Day said. “It only cares about its agenda and that is clear with this race because if Henry Cuellar doesn’t win the primary the seat is going to go red in the November election.”

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She urged Democrats to re-examine their pro-abortion agenda and consider how they are treating pro-life voters who believe unborn babies deserve to be protected.

Cuellar is a target of the billion-dollar pro-abortion lobby, which is trying to weed out Democrat lawmakers who refuse to support taxpayer-funded abortions up to birth.

He has a moderately pro-life voting record. While he does not support a total abortion ban, he recently said in a statement that he opposes abortions except in cases of rape, incest and dangers to the mother’s life.

In September, Cuellar was the only House Democrat who voted no on a radical pro-abortion bill that pro-life leaders say would force every state to legalize the killing of unborn babies in abortions up to birth. Cuellar also consistently has supported the Hyde Amendment, which bans taxpayer funding for elective abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs.

His primary opponent would do the opposite. Cisneros told the Huffington Post that she will work hard to defeat the Hyde Amendment, if elected, because abortions are a “human right.”

The Washington Times reports abortion has been a central focus of Cisneros’s campaign, and she has the support of several major pro-abortion groups, including Emily’s List, NARAL and Planned Parenthood. This week, Emily’s List spent $550,000 on TV ads criticizing Cuellar for voting to protect unborn babies from abortions, Politico reports.

Cisneros also has endorsements from U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pramila Jayapal, Jamaal Bowman, Katie Porter and Ayanna Pressley.

“At a time when our reproductive freedoms are under attack by an extremist Supreme Court, we must elect pro-choice candidates that will fight to make sure abortion remains the law of the land,” Jayapal said when she endorsed Cisneros. “Jessica Cisneros embodies the kind of progressive we need in Congress.”

But polls show that Cisneros’s pro-abortion stance is extreme and out of touch with most voters. She supports legalizing abortions for basically any reason up to birth and wants to force taxpayers to pay for abortions, two issues Americans strongly and consistently oppose.

Vox reports more:

Though Cisneros and her allies are working to ensure abortion rights shape the race, it’s not yet clear to what extent the issue will affect people’s votes. While Democratic strategists say the fight for abortion rights has energized a segment of voters in the region, Cuellar — whose campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment — has said his views are in line with those in the district.

“If his opponent is going to say that we need to kick him out of office because he’s not in favor of abortion, I don’t think that’s going to get very far. I don’t see that being the deciding factor,” says state Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, a Cuellar supporter who also represents part of the district.

Cuellar has some party support. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn have endorsed him even though they are pro-abortion, according to the report.

The Democratic Party platform supports abortions without restriction and demands that taxpayers be forced to pay for them.

Very few Americans share that view. A 2021 Marist poll found 58 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S. Additionally, 77 percent oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in other countries. A 2016 Harvard/Politico poll found that most voters, including a strong majority of low-income voters, oppose taxpayer-funded abortions.

Recent polls also show public support for greater legal protections for unborn babies, such as heartbeat laws and bans on abortion after the first trimester