This article first appeared online at The Christian Post on October 27, 2011
SBA List: Billboard Did Not Lie About Former Congressman’s Pro-Life Record
by Stephanie Samuel
Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said her pro-life organization did not maliciously seek to malign ousted Democratic Congressman Steve Driehaus’ record on Obamacare during the 2010 mid-term election. Rather, she said, Driehaus got burned trying to play both sides of what she says is an either/or issue.
SBA List is anxiously awaiting a ruling to its appeal of an Aug. 1 verdict allowing Driehaus to pursue a defamation lawsuit.
In a telephone interview with The Christian Post, Dannenfelser denied having lied maliciously or recklessly disregarded the facts despite an August ruling giving Driehaus grounds to pursue a defamation lawsuit against the pro-life agency.
She said that the pro-life movement’s sole objective in the health care reform debate was to secure a statutory prohibition on abortion funding in health care. Driehaus, she said, initially supported that position, but strayed from that objective and voted in favor the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
PPACA ultimately passed without a pro-life provision in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate after President Barack Obama issued an executive order assuring that no federal money would pay for abortions. Driehaus helped pass the health care reform bill in the House. The executive order, Dannenfelser lamented, does not have the same power as a legislative statute.
When Driehaus voted in favor of the health care reform bill, which does not carry the explicit pro-life protections former Congressman Bart Stupak put forth, she said he essentially switched sides.
“He held our position and we held the same position. We stayed where we were; he changed his view and then he decided to call us a liar,” Dannenfelser summed.
Read more at The Christian Post.
Yes, I want to receive up-to-the-minute email updates on the latest pro-life news and opportunities for me to take action to serve women and save babies.
