The U.S. Senate voted against a repeal of the pro-abortion ObamaCare on party lines yesterday, with three key Democratic Senators blowing their chance to reaffirm their alledged pro-life values.
New Sen. Joe Machin (WV-D), who came into the Senate with a pro-life record from his time as Governor of West Virginia, voted against the repeal. Machin won a special election in November to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd. Machin will face West Virginian voters again in November of 2012, and he can now expect strong opposition from pro-life voters.
Two other self-declared pro-life Senators blew a second chance to correct their first vote on ObamaCare. Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Bob Casey (D-PA) voted against repeal, despite the ruckuses raised by pro-lifers in their home states following the passage of the bill. Nelson and Casey will also be up for reelection in 2012. Nelson’s poll numbers remain in the gutter:
Every poll released so far on the 2012 Nebraska Senate race has shown Ben Nelson in deep trouble and our numbers are no exception. Nelson trails Attorney General Jon Bruning 50-39 in a hypothetical contest and Treasurer Don Stenberg by a 45-41 margin.
Nelson continues to maintain that ObamaCare does not provide for taxpayer funding of abortion, despite overwhleming evidence that suggests otherwise:
To remind you, my vote for health reform was contingent on keeping a public option out and getting in language extending the Hyde Amendment so public funding of abortion wouldn’t be allowed under this new law. That’s what I insisted on, and that alone is what secured my vote.
As LifeNews observes, the repeal vote in the Senate meant the end of pro-life Democrats in the chamber:
Sadly, the U.S. Senate lost its last-standing pro-life Democrat today when Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia betrayed his long-held pro-life convictions to vote against the repeal of the pro-abortion Obama healthcare law.
Manchin will join the company of Democrats like Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, stalwart supporters of the right to life throughout much of their careers who also recently bowed to party pressure and sold out the pro-life advocates who put them in office. (Incidentally, the group Democrats for Life of America opposed repeal while every other pro-life group favored it).
These three Senators had their chance to make right with pro-lifers and reaffirm their alledged pro-life values. All three showed their cowardice, and all three will have to answer to the millions of pro-life voters in their states. All three let down the pro-life movement within the Democratic party, a movement that has already been slapped in the face by Democrats for Life of America.
The SBA Pro-Life America National Pro-life Scorecard is a tool that helps hold members of Congress accountable for their legislative records on life and that highlights leadership in the fight to serve women and save babies.
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