Jeb Bush is having a difficult time convincing social conservatives that he’s one of them. Consider these headlines:
— Social-issues voters doubt Jeb Bush’s viability
— Unhappy With a Moderate Jeb Bush, Conservatives Aim to Unite Behind an Alternative
— Why Chris Christie and Jeb Bush were snubbed by social conservative leaders
The difficulty Bush seems to be having attracting social conservative support is surprising given that on arguably the most salient social issue, abortion, he may have the most conservative record of all the 2016 presidential candidates.
As governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007, Bush signed several pieces of pro-life legislation into law and led the charge during one of the most bitter and controversial pro-life battles in recent memory.
Among the pro-life bills Bush signed into law was legislation requiring that parents be notified before a minor’s abortion, a bill prohibiting partial-birth abortion and a bill regulating the safety of abortion centers. Bush also championed “Choose Life” specialty license plates, the proceeds from which went to pro-life pregnancy centers in the state.
Bush opposed a ballot initiative that would have amended the state’s constitution to provide $200 million over 10 years for embryonic stem cell research. And he pushed through a parental consent measure for contraception in school-based health centers. He also expanded funding for abstinence education.
But Bush did more than just sign pro-life bills into law. He also personally intervened in several controversial cases in which human lives were at stake.
In one, Bush’s administration sought to appoint a guardian to represent the unborn child in a case in which a developmentally disabled woman living in state-supervised housing sought an abortion. In another, Bush intervened in an attempt to prevent a 13-year-old girl who was a ward of the state from having an abortion.
Most memorably, in 2005 he tenaciously fought to save the life of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman whose husband wanted to remove her feeding tube over the objections of her parents. Bush acted even though polls showed most Americans supported removing Schiavo’s feeding tube. “I don’t think he ever took more political heat on a single issue,” Ken Connor, who represented Bush in the case, recently told the Wall Street Journal about Bush’s intervention in the Schiavo affair.
Bush later said that he didn’t have any regrets about how he handled the case.”I acted on my core belief that the most vulnerable in our society should be in the front of the line,” he said at CPAC in March. “They should receive our love and protection.”
Bush is regularly grouped with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former New York Governor George Pataki as the moderates in the GOP field. But on abortion, his record is at least as conservative as those of stalwart pro-life governors Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker, and perhaps even more so.
As Bush himself once proudly proclaimed, “I’m probably the most pro-life governor in modern times.”
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
