Pro-lifers respond to attacks on pro-life stance of Rubio, Cruz

Two of the top presidential contenders, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, have recently come under fire for their consistently pro-life position – not from the abortion lobby, but from other Republican presidential hopefuls. Now, a national pro-life organization with hundreds of thousands of members is calling for an end to the attacks.

In an open letter addressed to Governors Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Jim Gilmore, and John Kasich, along with Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, the Susan B. Anthony List urges “a swift and decisive end to the attacks other candidates and their surrogates are making concerning the courageous pro-life positions of Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.” The letter is in response to a litany of statements which sound far more like “Planned Parenthood talking points,” as SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser noted, than the position of a party which claims to stand for the protection of the preborn.

In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie implied that Rubio’s pro-life position would hurt him in New Hampshire:

That’s the kind of position that New Hampshire voters would be really concerned about. I’m pro-life, but I believe that rape, incest and life of the mother, as Ronald Reagan did, should be exceptions to that rule.

I will tell you one thing Marco Rubio has done: He has made it very clear that on the issue of pro-life, Marco Rubio is not for an exception for rape, incest, or life of the mother.

Now… you know I think that’s the kind of position that I think New Hampshire voters would be concerned about.

Unfortunately for Christie, even the New York Times says this is a misrepresentation of Rubio’s pro-life position, particularly on the exception for the life of the mother.

Rubio recently told CNN he believes that all human life, even those conceived in rape, must be protected. “I personally believe that you do not correct one tragedy with a second tragedy,” he said.

The Susan B. Anthony List isn’t alone in supporting Rubio and Cruz’s pro-life position. Live Action president Lila Rose told Sean Hannity in a recent Fox News interview, “I think we can do better for women who are victims of sexual abuse and trauma to say that abortion is somehow a pathway to healing. Abortion is not a pathway to healing; it’s another violent act.”

Juda Myers, founder of Choices4Life, which advocates for those conceived in rape, said that politicians who claim to be pro-life while allowing exceptions to abort children because their fathers were the criminals are the ones who are not really pro-life. Myers knows how these kind of statements affect those conceived in rape – because she’s one of them. Myers’ birth mother was gang raped but lovingly chose to place her for adoption:

Society has put in our minds what women would and should feel about babies conceived in rape. But through my research I’ve found that women pregnant by rape do not think the way the general public thinks. Even those who previously thought they would abort find themselves feeling differently about the innocent baby inside them.

Myers believes that politicians who support exceptions for rape and incest are actually pro-choice. “100% pro-life is 100%,” she points out. “There is no exception. Choice for death in pregnancy is still pro-choice for death.” Myers also says, “The exception has opened the door so that all abortions can be legal. If rape/incest abortions were made illegal then ALL legal abortions would cease.”

Christie is not the only GOP contender lashing out against a 100% pro-life position. In late fall, Live Action News reported that 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush also criticized Rubio’s consistently pro-life position. And now, former Republican presidential candidate, Lindsey Graham (who supports Jeb Bush for president) has piled on, chiding Senator Ted Cruz’s ardent pro-life position. Graham stated on MSNBC:

If a woman is raped in Ted Cruz’s world, she’s going to have to carry the baby of the rapist. I’m pro-life, but I won’t go there. I think that’s hard to sell with young women.

Graham showed that his desire to “grow” the Republican party comes first and does not include promoting the idea that all preborn children have value:

I may be wrong, and I hope I’m wrong, but I think it’s going to be very hard to grow the party among women if you’re gonna tell young women, ‘If you get raped, you’ve gotta carry the child of the rapist.’ Most pro-life people don’t go there.

“The child of the rapist.” This is an idea that is in no way pro-life, and labels an innocent child by the crime of his or her father.

Elaine Riddick, a rape victim and pro-life advocate, bore a child after being raped as a teen, and takes issue with Graham’s assertions: “You just have no idea how wonderful that child has made my life,” she told Live Action News, speaking of her son, Tony. Riddick believes children conceived in rape should be protected, not destroyed, and points to her story as an example:

In the Black community at that time there was no such thing as abortion. My life would not be what it is without my son. I knew he was my child. He shaped my whole being from then to now. My son is a gift regardless of how he was conceived. He is the most beautiful thing I can see. The most positive person.

Riddick, who at 14 became a victim of forcible sterilization by the Eugenics Board of North Carolina, is very outspoken on Planned Parenthood’s eugenic agenda, and suggests that politicians who support abortion for reasons of rape should not be trusted:

When I hear a politician say everyone deserves to live except a child conceived in rape I am shocked. Those are the ones you need to watch. I would disqualify them for the simple reason that they have no idea what a woman has to go through- no sense of worth or conscience and God’s worth. God said every life, every person is made in His image. He intended for these children to be born.

While GOP presidential contenders attack the pro-life positions of Senators Rubio and Cruz, they could instead be exposing the truth about Planned Parenthood’s dismal record on aiding and abetting child rape.

SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser minced no words in her open letter, and effectively summed up what many pro-lifers are feeling regarding the attacks on Cruz and Rubio:

Let me be clear: An attack on this aspect of these candidates’ pro-life positions is an attack on the pro-life movement as a whole.