Posted on 07/26/2011 9:07:35 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The big question in the Republican presidential race is whether or not Texas Gov. Rick Perry will throw his name in the hat for the GOP nomination to face pro-abortion president Barack Obama. If he does, Texas pro-life groups give him high marks.
“Governor Rick Perry has always championed the pro-life cause, tirelessly advocating for the sanctity of innocent human life in numerous ways,” Texas Right to Life executive director Elizabeth Graham tells LifeNews.com.
Governor Perry has worked alongside Texas Right to Life, helping shepherd our pro-life bills and eagerly supporting our measures,” Graham said. “As governor of Texas, he has intervened to stop anti-life legislation on a number of occasions, and he has helped clear obstacles when necessary.”
For the pro-life movement, changing the makeup of the Supreme Court is perhaps the number one issue — as the current pro-abortion majority on the high court makes it impossible to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow for either federal or state efforts to provide legal protection for women and unborn children. Graham says her organization has been appreciative of the nominations Perry has made as governor.
“Every one of Governor Perry’s judicial appointees adheres to a strict constructionist style of jurisprudence; neither do they find a right to privacy in the penumbra of the Constitution, nor do they legislate from the bench,” Graham assures. “Governor Perry’s appointments have created the largest, most conservative judicial body in America.”
Joe Pojman, the head of Texas Alliance for Life, has also worked closely with the governor and confirms to LifeNews that “Perry has always been pro-life throughout his time has an elected official.”
“For many years, Perry has supported the fund raising efforts of pro-life organizations, including Texas Alliance for Life, and he has appeared several times at the Texas Rally for Life held at the state Capitol to commemorate the tragic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision,” Pojman added.”We believe Perry has the right stuff to be president. If elected, he will aggressively defend innocent human life as he has as governor of Texas.”
Pojman pointed to a laundry list of achievements Perry can point to as governor that have advanced the pro-life cause. Most recently, he signed into law a bill that would revoke taxpayer funding of the Planned Parenthood abortion business. But going back to the beginning, as the Lt. Governor in 1999, Perry oversaw the passage by the Texas Senate of the Parental Notification Act, the most substantial pro-life law passed in Texas up to that point. In 2005, Gov. Perry signed the parental consent measure to increase parents’ rights and, in the years since the parental notification and consent laws have been in effect, abortions on minor girls have dropped by 32% per year.
In 2003, Perry signed the Prenatal Protection Act, a law that protects unborn children from violent crimes of murder and assault by expanding the definition of human life in Texas criminal and civil law to include unborn children “at every stage of gestation from fertilization to birth.” Texas’ highest criminal court has upheld convictions of criminals for the murder of unborn children several times, and several are serving life sentences.
In 2005, Perry signed a measure prohibiting abortions in the third trimester and, in 2003, Perry signed the Woman’s Right to Know Act in 2003, which required that abortion businesses offer state-created informational brochures to women considering abortion. That law also prohibits late abortions from being performed excepted in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers.
This year, Perry appeared to step up his push for pro-life laws even more and, in response to requests from the two Texas pro-life groups, made passing an ultrasound law among his top priorities.
“The bill he signed raises the standard of care for informed consent for abortion, for the first time, to the level of other surgical and medical procedures. It mandates a sonogram and gives women the right to see the image of the unborn child and hear the heartbeat. The bill also requires the physician who will perform the abortion to meet with the woman for an in-person consultation session 24 hours before the abortion to describe the procedure, its risks, and the alternatives,” Pojman said. “Abby Johnson, the former director of a Texas Planned Parenthood abortion facility turned pro-life advocate, believes that provision will “devastate” the abortion industry.”
Perry, this year, also signed a bill to create a “Choose Life” license plate to promote infant adoption as an alternative to abortion in the Lone Star State. Perry long promoted compassionate alternatives to abortion. Since 2005, Perry has signed budgets that include millions for pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life agencies that assist pregnant women.
Perry has also funded adult, not embryonic, stem cell research and treatments since 2005, and has spoken out against embryonic stem cell research.
The long record of pro-life accomplishments will serve the Texas governor well should he decide to seek the Republican nomination. He would face of against other candidates who are equally committed to pro-life values, but his pro-life track record will give him a chance to gain positive support from voters in places like Iowa and South Carolina. Should he ultimately become the nominee, Perry, like other Republicans seeking the nomination, would present a clear pro-life versus pro-abortion contrast with Obama that would rally the majority of Americans who are pro-life to his side.
And in response to the opposition to the prayer event -- including the lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation that claims the gathering violates the religious freedom article in the First Amendment -- she assures: "We'll pray for them."
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"........Miner said people who know Perry understand that two things he feels strongly about are states' rights and the institution of traditional marriage. "Nothing has changed with the governor's philosophy here," he said.
Besides confirming Perry's support of a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, Miner pointed to the governor's state record. Perry supported the Texas Defense of Marriage Act and a state constitutional amendment defining traditional marriage, Miner noted." Source
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"..Ann Hettinger, Concerned Women for America's state director of Texas, was instrumental in convincing Perry to change his proposal to an opt-in provision. When asked if Perry's original plans for the HPV vaccine would be an issue if he were to run for president, [CEO of Concerned Women for America, Penny] Nance replied, “It would've been an issue IF HE HAD NOT FIXED IT.”
”Perry has pleased pro-life advocates in Texas many times with signing pro-life legislation — most recently signing an ultrasound bill allowing women to see them before an abortion and hopefully changing their minds on it. He has been strongly supported by pro-life groups. Perry supported or signed into law the Women’s Right to Know Act and the Prenatal Protection Act in 2003, parental consent law in 2005, and funding for alternatives to abortions in 2007 and 2009."
“Rick Perry Gets A Grade on Abortion From Texas Pro-Life Groups”
(whiny voice) But he’s a RRRRIIIIIINNNNNNOOOOO(end whiny voice)
I am no fan of Perry but could support him if he proves to be the only alternative to a “choice” between Obama/Romney.
When the GOP speaks about
ABORTION they win
When the GOP is AFRAID to protect the innocent babies, they lose and deserve to.
Perry's push for the sonogram bill has fortified his long-standing ties to family values and pro-life groups but it has also made him a target from other circles.
"We would aggressively work to defeat him [Perry], of course," said Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, which describes itself as non-partisan but typically backs Democrats. Star Telegram
Those children committed no crimes...if he believes it is okay to kill children whose parent(s) has raped someone, then he is simply not pro-life. If it were okay to kill those children, then why wouldn't it be okay to kill all people whose parents are rapists regardless of their stage in human life?
Those children didn't have incestuous relationships...if it is okay to kill those children because their parents were too closely related why wouldn't it be okay to kill all persons who were conceived in incest?
Unless children of incest receive the regressive gene then their lives and their children's lives will be no different than those conceived outside of incest.
Perry is a RINO and just flows with the winds...he is a big government atheistic socialist.
In before the anti Perry spammers!! LOL.
I shut up the pro abort people when they talk about "It's just a mass of tissue" racket and ask them if it has a heartbeat is it alive?. They continue to use the mass of tissue, until I ask them if they ever heard of burying someone with a heartbeat. That shuts them up.
Well, his history is there for everyone to examine.
Your dismissal of all Rick Perry has worked FOR is very telling.
They’re sharpening my posting skills.
Who fits the bill for you?
jacknhoo says...
"I'll vote for Michele Bachmann - wonderful person and a great candidate. She blows all the RINOs out of the water, and that includes Perry and Romney."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2751423/posts?page=30#30
And it seems Bachmann agrees with Perry...
Bachmann Supports New York’s Right To Enact Marriage Equality Law
If a politician is willing to kill someone in cases of incest and rape, then they can be convinced to kill someone at many other times...infanticide, euthanasia, healthcare rationing, assisted suicide...where does it end. Either they believe in the sanctity of human life or they do not.
Even Santorum is not pro-life...another Kennedy Catholic having a “rating” as pro-life does not make one pro-life...it only means they have toed the line. Once they believe they have the “authority” to decide when a person's life is disposable, they have crossed that line.
Would I take Perry over Obama, of course. Would I prefer Perry over someone who is truly pro-life, of course not. Will I ever vote for Perry, no. You have all kinds of people who say, you must vote for the lesser of two evils. No, you don't. You do not have to play that game of moral relativity. And we should never vote for a pro-abortion candidate.
Perry is pro-abortion in cases of rape and incest. That means Perry IS pro-abortion. He believes abortion should be legal. He believes killing innocent defenseless children should be legal - that is not a pro-life position.
What is is is a seasoned politician saying, I have wiggle room...I can speak out of both sides of my mouth and get people from both sides of this issue.
I will never vote for someone who is not pro-life. I have to stand before God and say, well God, see those 500 little children over there that were murdered, I voted for their murder, so that 500,000 children over there didn't get murdered. God's going to say, that's right, you conspired to allow the murder of 500 children. Next!
I agree with most of what you say, but Herman Cain is also opposed to abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
It's also worth noting that Perry has supported 2 strongly pro-abortion liberal candidates for President: Al Gore and Rudy Giuliani.
Bachmann may have taken a somewhat similar "states-rights" position on gay marriage, but she never said what Perry did, which is that it was "just fine with me" that "our friends in NY" enacted gay marriage.
Well, I’ll add Cain to my list...I like Cain - I have heard him on the radio a lot.
…..“Gore won a seat in Congress in 1976 "with 32 percent of the vote, three percentage points more than his nearest rival." He won the next three elections in 1978, 1980, and 1982 where "he was unopposed twice and won 79 percent of the vote the other time." In 1984, Gore successfully ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate, which had been vacated by Republican Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker. He was "unopposed in the Democratic Senatorial primary and won the general election going away," despite the fact that Republican President Ronald Reagan swept Tennessee in his reelection campaign the same year.
......."During his time in Congress, [Al] Gore was considered a "moderate" (he referred to himself as a "raging moderate") opposing federal funding of abortion, voting in favor of a bill which supported a moment in silence in schools, and voting against a ban on interstate sales of guns. His position as a moderate (and on policies related to that label) shifted later in life after he became Vice President and ran for president in 2000…”…… Source
Gore his wife led the charge on putting warning labels on records back in the 1980s. In fact, Gore had an 84% pro-life record back in the 1980s: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Al_Gore According to ontheissues.org -- Gore had an 84% anti-abortion voting record and voted pro-life 27 times. Evolving Gore
Rick Perry supported Rudy Giuliani on his strong national security bona fides. And re Rudy's view on social issues he believes the GOP would do better to stay out of peoples' bedrooms -- He tends to be a states' rights politician -- like it or not, there it is.
You may have to.
Which candidate do you support?
Which did you support in the early primary season in the 2008 election?
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