Democrats For Life of America made an extremely misleading announcement in the July 3rd issue of the Washington Post. Kristen Day, DFLA’s executive director, said she’s forming a “Whole-Life Heroes” political action committee. I’m the founder and president of HERO’s Whole Life America. So, on one hand, I am flattered that the DFLA thought so much of our organization that they borrowed our name. On the other hand, I am greatly offended that they would use our name to undermine human dignity.
The name of our organization, HERO’s Whole Life America, conveys respect for the human person from the embryo to the elderly. We make a stand for human dignity when it isn’t politically expedient – against the prevailing ideologies of the age – and that takes courage, hence HERO.
It takes courage to consistently fight for human dignity. And, as a matter of fact, members of the HERO’s Whole Life America take our pledge to promote respect for the intrinsic dignity of the human person regardless of ability, age, status, ethnicity or sex. We work with a coalition of people from diverse backgrounds and fight for the principle of whole life human rights – protecting everyone from the embryo to the elderly. We are rewarded every day as we strive to be consistent with our name. Some of our projects this year include drilling wells for the poor in Darfur, Sudan; delivering aid to victims of the earthquake in Haiti; sharing the message of human dignity in American prisons (even on death row); and partnering with 280 pregnancy centers to bring the message of hope and life to pregnant women in crisis.
In complete contrast, the Democrats For Life “Whole-Life Heroes” PAC undermines human dignity. After all, its purpose is to re-elect the Stupak Democrats who broke their promises and voted in favor of the mammoth federal healthcare bill laden with provisions for taxpayer-funded abortions. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), the group’s namesake, led that devastating betrayal for the empty promise of an executive order banning those provisions. Yet public outrage was so swift and widespread that Stupak and Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI) abandoned their bids for re-election. More dramatically, voters rejected Stupak collaborator Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) during a primary election.
Still, according to Kristen Day, the Democrats For Life PAC seeks to re-elect Stupak’s other collaborators because, she said, executive orders “are rarely overturned.”
Did the Washington Post get the DFLA’s message right? For one thing, President Obama’s executive order on health care does not ban the abortion provisions that he signed into law. For another thing, Stupak and Day should have realized that Obama’s own record includes rescinding human rights orders issued by his predecessor. Within 72 hours of his 2009 inauguration, President Obama rescinded the Mexico City Policy, thereby using the American taxpayers’ money to fund a campaign of cultural imperialism by imposing abortion on countries and cultures that respect the dignity of the child in the womb. Barely two months later, Obama also rescinded the executive order banning taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research. This “research” requires the killing of human persons and it has consistently failed to produce cures or treatments.
Three days before announcing his betrayal, Bart Stupak complained to The Hill. According to him, fighting for the fundamental human right in health care was “a living hell.” Losing his integrity in front of the world and failing to muster the courage of his convictions must be “a living hell.”
Nevertheless, Stupak and the DFLA have achieved something greater than they intended because pro-life and whole-life voters are now laser focused on ousting 13 other cowards this year: namely, Reps. John Boccieri (D-OH), Chris Carney (D-PA), Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Steve Driehaus (D-OH), Baron Hill (D-IN), Paul Kanjorski (D-PA), Tom Perriello (D-VA), Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), and John Salazar (D-CO).
Years ago, when the late Rev. Richard John Neuhaus was a young, liberal Lutheran pastor, he was quoted as saying: “The greatest tragedy in contemporary American politics is that the pro-life flag is planted in the Republican side of the debate.” Rev. Neuhaus was half right. The greatest tragedy in American political history is that the Whole Life/Pro-Life flag is not firmly planted in both the Republican and Democrat parties. It will take both parties working together to reestablish respect for the human person from the embryo to the elderly.
One pro-life Democrat courageously stood his ground during the healthcare vote. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) is reason to hope that Democrats, Republicans and independents can work together in grounding our nation on the founding principle of this great Republic: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
If Democrats For Life drops its campaign to re-elect the Stupak 13 and concentrates on Lipinski’s race, that would be a good start.
