Xavier Becerra defends abortion at every opportunity, which is standard for Democratic politicians in California. But Becerra also uses his power, at every opportunity, to impose his extreme abortion beliefs on others.
As state attorney general and as a member of Congress, Becerra has used his government power to try to force pro-lifers and religious organizations to pay for abortions and contraception and also to pressure pro-life doctors or Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.
Becerra also abused his power by using the office of the attorney general to press a felony prosecution against a pro-life activist for exposing Planned Parenthood’s trade in the organs of aborted babies.
If Joe Biden actually wants to promote peace in the culture wars, his decision to nominate Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a grave mistake. Biden could theoretically govern as a pro-choice president without waging an all-out government-led war against pro-lifers. But Becerra is a bloodthirsty soldier in the culture war.
Becerra, for instance, is pressing felony charges against two pro-life activists who went undercover to expose Planned Parenthood’s trade in the parts of aborted babies. Even the L.A. Times, which thinks Planned Parenthood did nothing wrong, finds Becerra’s overzealous prosecution (which continues a case launched by his predecessor Kamala Harris) “disturbingly aggressive.”
As David Daleiden, one of the two facing possible jail time from Becerra, has pointed out, his is the only case ever to be prosecuted in the 60-year history of California’s undercover video-recording law.
Becerra spent 25 years in Congress, where he never voted against the wishes of abortion giant Planned Parenthood or the other leading abortion lobby, NARAL Pro-Choice America. Becerra unfailingly received a 100% from these lobby groups. No member of Congress was more extreme in defense of abortion than Becerra.
This implies some extreme positions.
If a man impregnates a minor girl in Arizona and wants to drive her to California to get an abortion while skirting Arizona’s laws on parental consent, Becerra supports that man. In 2005, when the House voted overwhelmingly (270-157) to pass the “Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act,” Becerra voted nay. Other pro-choice California Democrats — Joe Baca, Dennis Cardoza, and Jim Costa voted in favor.
Partial-birth abortion is a brutal procedure whereby a baby is partly delivered before it is killed. It is illegal in the United States, but Becerra believes it should be legal and has voted to that effect. He has also voted to protect sex-selective abortion.
But a perfect rating from the abortion lobby doesn’t merely mean he supports abortion on demand. The abortion industry wants more, as shown by Becerra’s prosecution of Daleiden. Planned Parenthood and NARAL want their agenda imposed on the unwilling through government force. This includes mandates that trample personal conscience rights as well as felony prosecutions of enemies.
Becerra has been consistent in his attacks on the freedom of conscience. Forcing employers, including Catholic hospitals and orders of nuns, to provide abortion and contraception (including “morning-after” contraception that may function as an abortion drug) has been a decadeslong crusade for Becerra.
In 2007, for instance, Becerra co-sponsored a bill requiring all employers who cover prescription drugs to cover contraception also. This mandate would have allowed zero exemptions for conscience. It would force Catholic parishes to pay for birth control for parish staff, although Catholic teaching rejects artificial birth control as an unnatural and unethical means to divorce sexuality from life-giving family formation.
Becerra has voted to ensure that states can discriminate against hospitals and doctors for not providing or recommending abortions. Becerra believes taxpayers should have to fund abortions — he has voted against the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.”
Becerra tried to force pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to advertise abortion. He lost, obviously, because the Constitution prohibits coerced speech. Anthony Kennedy, the very justice who saved Roe v. Wade in the early 1990s, excoriated Becerra’s case. “This law is a paradigmatic example of the serious threat presented when government seeks to impose its own message in the place of individual speech, thought, and expression.”
Becerra also believes all employers in California should have to cover abortion. “California has the sovereign right to protect women’s reproductive rights,” was Becerra’s defense. This is telling. “Women’s reproductive rights” in Becerra’s words means “forcing unwilling individuals to pay for abortion.”
If Becerra brings this zeal for abortion and disdain for conscience to HHS, we can expect the Biden administration to force all hospitals to perform abortions and all employers to cover them. There’s nothing “pro-choice” about that. That evinces a culture warrior eager to impose his beliefs and crush those who don’t agree.
