Dannenfelser: "On behalf of the growing American pro-life majority, I urge Senator Casey to honor his father's legacy and Pennsylvania values by voting no on the Senate health care bill."
Contact: Joy Yearout, Susan B. Anthony List, 703-380-6674
WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Susan B. Anthony List today released a TV advertisement encouraging Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.) to embrace the pro-life legacy of his father, Governor Bob Casey (D-Pa.) by opposing the Senate health care bill. [Watch the Ad.]
"Senator Casey, who calls himself pro-life, will soon have the opportunity to vote against the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade," said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. "The question is, will he see the illogic of his position that 'health care' could ever include abortion? Will he put his party's ideology ahead of the lives of innocent unborn children? The decision to oppose this bill would have been a no-brainer for Governor Casey. Bob Casey, Sr. would have supported the idea of health care reform, but never at the expense of the little guy -- the unborn child.
"Yet, unlike Senator Ben Nelson, Senator Casey has refused to draw a line in the sand," Dannenfelser continued. "His father, Governor Casey, once said 'legalized abortion is inconsistent with our national character.' On behalf of the growing American pro-life majority, I urge Senator Casey to honor his father's legacy and Pennsylvania values by voting no on the Senate health care bill."
In contrast to his colleague Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Senator Casey has refused to publicly oppose the current version of health care reform legislation, which reverses the status quo to allow government funding for abortion. On December 8, 2009, Casey co-sponsored the Nelson Amendment, which failed by a vote of 54-45. Without the addition of the Nelson amendment, the senate bill allows abortion coverage in the public option, as well as the use of government subsidies to purchase insurance policies that include elective abortion coverage. The measure closely mirrored the Stupak-Pitts Amendment that passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 240-194.
The Susan B. Anthony List ad, "Who Shall Live," will run in Casey's hometown of Scranton and Erie. The initial $40,000 ad buy will run December 16 and 17, with the possibility of extension pending developments in the Senate. The script of the ad:
In a landmark speech, the late Governor Robert Casey, Senior said "Nothing could be more foreign to the American experience than legalized abortion. It is inconsistent with our national character, with our national purpose, with all that we've done, and with everything we hope to be."
But right now, Robert Casey, Junior is poised to vote in the Senate for a health care bill with federal funding for abortion. The bill will result in more abortions--abortions that Americans will be required to finance. Senator Casey, trading the lives of unborn children for a health care bill is inconsistent with our American character.
"The abortion debate is not about how we shall live, but who shall live. And more than that, it's about who we are." Contact Bob Casey, Junior today and tell him to vote NO on any health care bill that funds abortion. Paid for by Susan B. Anthony List, Inc.
The speech by Governor Bob Casey, Sr. referenced in the ad was delivered at a University of Notre Dame commencement ceremony in 1995.
For the last several months, the Susan B. Anthony List has mobilized tens of thousands of pro-life Americans nationwide to urge Congress to exclude abortion from healthcare reform. Susan B. Anthony List activists have sent over one million letters to Congress requesting an explicit exclusion of abortion from health care reform.
The Susan B. Anthony List is a nationwide network of Americans, over 280,000 residing in all 50 states, dedicated to mobilizing, advancing, and representing pro-life women in politics. Its connected Candidate Fund increases the percentage of pro-life women in the political process.
www.sba-list.org
