March for Life

pro-life

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Midterm Election Victories, Republican Majority, and Pro-Life Legislation

Hey Republicans, That’s An Awful Nice Majority You Have There. Be a Real Shame if Something Happened To It.

Without a doubt Republicans had a good night Election night.  While there are a handful of races still outstanding, House Republicans are on track to have their largest majority since they had 270 seats in the in the 71st Congress (1929-1930).

The election has a number of interesting tidbits (most from the Washington Post and other sources (noted)):

  •  Senators-elect Tom Cotton and Joni Ernst are two of the first Iraq War veterans elected to the Senate.  Former Rep. Cotton also gives Arkansas two Republican Senators for the first time since 1879.
  • For the first time ever, more than 100 female legislators will be voting in the next session of Congress. With Rep. Shelley Moore Capito’s Senate victory in West Virginia, the state has its first female senator.  Joni Ernst, who won the Iowa Senate race, will be the first woman elected to federal office in that state.
  • Elise Stefanik, who won the House race in New York’s 21st District, is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is 30.
  • Mia Love, who won the House race in Utah’s 4th District, is the first black woman to be elected as a Republican representative.
  • Will Hurd, who won a House race in Texas, became the first black Republican to win a federal election in the state since Reconstruction.
  • 29 Senators who voted for Obamacare have now been booted from the Senate by voters since 2010.

A lesson from the elections is that being pro-life beats being pro-abortion.  Three high profile Republican candidates that highlighted their pro-abortion stances and also had a lot of financial support from the Republican Leadership and Establishment lost (or in one case, is March for Life 2014losing).

Senator Scott Brown (who was a Senator from Massachusetts for a little while, and this year ran for the Senate  in New Hampshire), Richard Tisei, and Carl DeMaio all were sold as “new Republicans” who embrace the culture of death.  All of them lost in what was otherwise a Republican tidal wave.

So what does this mean for the 114th Congress, which could easily be seen as a heavily pro-life House of Representatives  and a more pro-life Senate?

In the House, we should expect votes on numerous pro-life bills that have been voted on in the past, such as the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, as well as legislation that was not voted on, knowing it would lie in limbo in the Senate.

The Senate though is not a lock for pro-life votes.  There are a number of Republicans in the U.S. Senate who are either pro-abortion or marginally on the side of the unborn.  Any pro-life legislation will have to be carefully crafted and eased through the Senate chamber to even reach a majority of support of 51.  Getting 60 votes to overcome any expected filibuster will be even more difficult considering there is only one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who could be considered pro-life.  However you should expect a vote on the Pain Capable bill as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), as well as a number of newly elected Republican Senators, ran on the platform of a vote on that specific legislation.

That of course wasn’t the only issue Republicans ran on.  This election was more about not being President Obama than it was about being Republican.  Incoming Majority Leader McConnell, in a press conference following the election, named his primary Obamacare targets: the medical device tax, the individual mandate and the 30-hour work week.

The President’s signature issue, the health care law known as Obamacare, was also a primary talking point for winning candidates.  Nearly half of voters – 47 percent – said Obamacare went too far, according to a CNN exit poll. The exit poll survey of 11,522 voters included voters from a random sample of precincts on Tuesday, as well as voters who cast their ballots early or absentee.

The “party of repeal” might now be in power in both chambers of Congress; however, they fall short of the necessary 60 votes needed to pass legislation in the Senate, let alone override a Presidential veto.

In a statement after Republicans took control of the Senate, House Speaker John Boehner did not mention health care. He said we can expect the jobs and energy bills passed by the House to be voted on in the Senate, and he talked about fixing the tax code, legal, regulatory and education systems. He mentioned nothing on Obamacare or pro-life bills.

Bottom line, if the Republicans want to keep their recently won majority they will need to be bold in the House of Representatives on pro-life issues and the Senate Republicans will need to unite on the pro-life issue, regardless of their personal view on protecting the unborn.

Days until the 2016 election: 732 days

 

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What it Really Means to be Pro-Woman

Yesterday I had the distinct opportunity of participating in a conference with a remarkable group of women. These women have a wide variety of life experience and backgrounds– ranging from a young actress to a former Member of Congress, to a person considered the most powerful woman in business in America during a period of time.

 

What brought us all together yesterday is that we believe conservative ideals help women to most fully flourish. We also know that all issues are women’s issues, not just one. Below is a snippet from my remarks yesterday.

“As the President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, my organization’s goal is to help build a culture of life in the United States— a culture in which no woman in her right mind would ever choose abortion. A culture in which marriage, family, religious freedom are all respected. A culture that is about loving women, loving babies, and loving life. A place where people are encouraged and enabled to fully and  humanly flourish.

Sadly, in many ways this is not our current cultural reality. There are so many confusing messages out there especially about the issue of abortion. Of course we are all well aware of the false “war on women” rhetoric.

I’m of the mind that the real war on women is more about a crisis in what it means to be human; to be a person, and in particular, a woman. One might call it a crisis in anthropology. Which may sound very heady but I think it especially impacts our young women negatively by presenting very confusing messages to them.

On one hand, we are defined by our body — I saw a study of women recently – what makes you feel worse — losing a job; problems with friends; 10 extra pounds? The majority answered 10 extra pounds. We are in a culture that places a premium on looks from head to toe. . On one extreme– you are almost defined by your body and what you look like.

The other extreme is the belief that “what I do with my body; it doesn’t mean anything – it’s only physical.” As if just being “physical” also depletes emotion.  “It’s only physical” pops up in the pages of Cosmopolitan magazine – perpetuating the idea to women that just being “physical” doesn’t mean anything.

Perhaps it is the case that the body has significance and much to “teach” about how we were made and how we will find fulfillment; the body can’t be detached from me. Our bodies make clear that women are completely, intrinsically, different but complementary, to a man. So a woman’s capacity to be a mom falls well within this.

Recently Gloria Steinem, famed feminist, was quoted saying that “if we [women] didn’t have wombs we’d be fine.” In doing so she is perpetuating the idea “don’t define me by my capacity to have children”. My question to women is: is it a good thing to view a woman’s capacity to bear a child as a form of slavery or bondage that she needs to be freed from or at the very least in control of? I think not. To pretend that a woman’s capacity to bear children is insignificant is not empowering to women. It’s the opposite.

What we really need is be pro-women without leaving out any part of her, like the amazing beautiful fact that she can be a mom.

A pro-abortion industry has influenced our culture so much that abortions are almost glorified in Hollywood. We need a culture that values life in this country and we need to move beyond the ways that liberals define women.”

For a full recap of the event, click here to read out our Storify story.  A full album of pictures from the event, are available by clicking here.