A Republican lawmaker will follow the example of the Obamas at the State of the Union Tuesday by leaving a gallery seat open in memory of others, but it won’t be for the group the first family is honoring.
Iowa Rep. Steve King said Tuesday unlike the president’s decision to leave a gallery seat open on behalf of those who have died due to gun violence, his guest seat will honor “55 million unborn, aborted babies.”
“There will be another empty seat in the gallery during Obama’s last State of the Union address. I have reserved it to commemorate the lives of more than 55 million aborted babies, ‘the chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world,'” King wrote in a statement Tuesday.
The Tea Party-affiliated member bashed President Obama for not supporting the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, H.R. 3504, and said he also plans to skip the State of the Union address.
“I will be in the Member’s chapel praying for God to raise up a leader whom he will use to restore the Soul of America,” King said.
King endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in mid-November.
