The anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List group announced tonight they will strip Rep. Bart Stupak of the “Defender of Life” award that he’s received several times. The group blasted Stupak’s role in forging a compromise with the White House on abortion language in an executive order and said he is no longer truly “pro-life.”
The group says President Obama’s executive order was “unacceptable” and they are redoubling efforts to elect “true” pro-life candidates.
SBA List Candidate Fund President Marjorie Dannenfelser issued a statement saying the group had been planning to honor Stupak (D-MI) for his efforts at their Campaign for Life Gala scheduled for Wednesday. “We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country,” Dannenfelser said in the statement.
Women’s groups criticized Obama for the order as well.
The SBA List statement said lawmakers who vote for the health care bill “can no longer call themselves ‘pro-life.'”
More from the statement:
The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund will not endorse, or support in any capacity, any Member of Congress who votes for this bill in any future election. Now through Election Day 2010, these representatives will learn that votes have consequences. The SBA List Candidate Fund will work tirelessly to help defeat Members who support this legislation and make sure their constituents know exactly how they voted. We will actively seek out true pro-life candidates to oppose Members who vote ‘yes’ on this bill, whether it be in general or primary elections. For these Members, it will be a quick downhill slide to defeat in November.
The executive order on abortion funding does absolutely nothing to fix the problems presented by the health care reform bill that the House will vote on this evening. The very idea should offend all pro-life Members of Congress. An executive order can be rescinded at any time at the President’s whim, and the courts could and have a history of trumping executive orders. Most importantly, pro-abortion Representatives have admitted the executive order is meaningless.
The group detailed their efforts in the health care fight as, “nearly $2 million on a grassroots campaign of targeted television and radio ads, 1.3 million automated calls, 70,000 patch-through constituent calls, 1.2 million letters and petitions to Congress, two media and grassroots tours in pro-life Democratic districts, television ads in six districts and comprehensive polling in 20 pro-life Democratic districts.”
