Each election cycle, a segment of the public bases their final vote on one major issue. A large portion of conservatives vote for candidates who promise to protect the right to life and work toward actively restricting both the act and funding of abortion. This is why many Republicans normally averse to questionable morality were proud to support Donald Trump in 2016. A history of sexual indiscretions paled in comparison to the political potential. At stake was not only the legislative side of this very important issue, but also the possibility of appointing at least one justice to the Supreme Court.
Since then, the country has seen two Trump-appointed jurists seated on the highest court in the land. While none of us knows exactly how Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh will rule on any given abortion case, conservatives find comfort in them being originalists and textualists like the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Furthermore, President Trump has established himself as a pro-life president. Among other life-affirming gains, he reinstated the Mexico City Policy, defunded the United Nations Population Fund (which has been linked to population control in China), and killed an Obama-era regulation relating to Title X funding.
[Related: Brett Kavanaugh defends position on migrant teen who sought an abortion]
Still, pro-life Americans have yet to see the federal defunding of the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. In addition, the Senate failed to pass a House-approved measure called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. Clearly, most legislators on Capitol Hill have not made protecting the most vulnerable Americans a priority. Most of them reside in the Democratic Party.
Earlier this week, pro-life activist Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, founder of New Wave Feminists, wrote an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News titled, “I’m pro-life and I voted for Beto O’Rourke because I’m done being used by the GOP.”
While I share her frustration at the lack of progress by the GOP, she is entirely incorrect in her assumption that this means pro-life individuals should vote for politicians who vocally support abortion.
The website of Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, clearly states his desire to ensure “that a woman’s right to choose is not compromised by limited access to safe and legal abortion services.” In October 2017, he voted against a 20-week abortion ban in Congress. In January 2017, he voted no on H.R. 7, a measure that would have banned federal funding of abortion and abortion insurance. Both NARAL and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund give him a 100 percent lifetime rating.
This man is no friend to the unborn and neither is he a politician willing to “work with the other side.” If pro-life Texans are interested in this issue, they should be supporting his fiercely pro-life opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
I believe it is time for pro-life Republicans to question how the party uses them and their dedication to this cause without delivering huge results. Often, we hear candidates exclaim their commitment to the unborn on the campaign trail then set it aside once in office. Without a doubt, this laziness must be addressed. In addition, we must also question the GOP’s devotion to the morality of the unborn while ignoring the sometimes questionable ethics of the party leader, Trump.
However, none of these concerns should lead one to cast a ballot for Democratic politicians who will actively work to keep the “right” to an abortion alive.
If the pro-life community wants Republicans to improve, then it can’t allow dissatisfaction to lead it directly into the waiting arms of an opposition willing to tear down its very foundation.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a senior contributor at RedState.com.
