An interesting pro-life candidate would be the young Al Gore.* With so many Democrats who are pro-life, it's puzzling the party has reversed itself in that area. Not only Al Gore but other prominent Democrats once made strong pro-life statments.** All that changed in the seventies and eighties. By 1992 they did not allow Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey to address the convention out of fear he would speak for the unborn. Formerly the defender of the weak, the party has become the home of elites.***
**********
*On June 26, 1984, Representative Al Gore cast an extremely pro-life vote. While debating the Civil Rights Act of 1984, Representative Siljander proposed the following amendment.
"For the purposes of this act, the term 'person' shall
include unborn children from the moment of conception."
After debate, Mr. Siljander demanded a recorded vote. The amendment was defeated 219 to 186. Among the recorded votes for the amendment was that of Al Gore.
Contrary to Al Gore's current campaign statements, this amendment cannot be counted among those distinguished as votes only against federal funding. This amendment was in direct opposition to Roe v Wade.
The text of the amendment, the debate, and the recorded vote can be found in the
Congressional Record, Volume 130, Part 14, pages 18865-18870.
**See Altlantic Monthly article On Abortion: A Lincolnian Position by George McKenna: "A long list of Democrats who were once pro-life--Edward Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, even Al Gore and Bill Clinton--turned around in the seventies and eighties as the lobbies tightened their grip on the party. In 1992 Robert Casey, the pro-life governor of Pennsylvania, a liberal on every issue except abortion, was not even permitted to speak at the Democratic National Convention."
***A Playboy Magazine executive testified to this connection with cultural elites. After the Democrats backed down on a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion, he stated:
"I would never have expected this from a party that we have supported financially and editorially through the pages of this magazine for many years." (Richard Rosenzweig, executive vice president of Playboy Enterprises, August, 2000) See Catholic League News
Joseph Lieberman's Pro-Life Views (1988)
Homily on a Woman's Right to Choose
**********
See also: An Eternally Unbridgeable Chasm
Jesus Teaching Concerning Heaven
Other Homilies
Some Good News on Teen Pregnancy and Abortion
Hitler's Pope: Comic Book Approach to Church History
He Approached the Victim: "It's much more likely one of your relatives will lose his life by surgical abortion than by heart attack."
Germaine Greer on Birth Control
Human Cloning: A Catholic Perspective (How the Unthinkable Became Inevitable)
Boston Globe's Misleading Article on Catholic Church
Deflating Darwin's Dangerous Idea
Stephen Jay Gould: Gorbachev of Darwinism?
Test Tube Offspring Want to Know Father
Bicentennial Man (Hidden Assumptions)
Bogus Knights of Columbus Oath
Ossuary of James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus