I have a very hard definition of what “pro-life” entails. For me, it’s personhood — 100% pro-life, from inception to natural death, no exceptions, no compromise. It is the Catholic position that is so often derided as all-or-nothing by some of our more Protestant friends. Of course, I never doubt their sincerity — whether you are Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, or simply an atheist who believes that life is all we have and life is worth protecting (believe me — there are great anthropomorphic arguments to protect the basic human right to exist) then we’re on the same team… and I’ll convince you of the merits of a more robust position later.
Speaker Bill Howell is in charge of a 68-person majority. As you can imagine, getting something passed in a body where 68 future attorneys general, lieutenant governors, senators (state and federal), and governors can prove to be a bit exasperating. If you’ve ever tried settling the question “where do you want to go to dinner tonight, kids?” then you have a small fraction of an idea as to how difficult legislating by committee can be. Now if you’re the dad in this situation, you can say you’re paying for it… and it’s pizza… and listen to the cheers and groans in the back of the car. But those are the operations of a benevolent dictatorship.
Being Speaker of the Virginia House? Not quite the same.
So my good friend Willie Deutsch writes over at The Bull Elephant about how Howell simply has not stood next to his pro-life bona fides, in part because of his opposition to a partial-birth abortion ban and being the recipient of money from Equality Virginia.
Ouch…
Almost…
What Deutsch neglects to mention is that Howell voted for the ban on partial birth abortion in 1997 and 1998 when it became law, voted for it three additional times in 2002 (to override then-Governor Mark Warner’s pernicious veto), then voted for the final ban that finally withstood scrutiny and became law in 2003. Solid, right?
As for the tens of thousands of dollars Equality Virginia gave to Howell? They didn’t.
Equality Virginia gave $6,000 to the Dominion Leadership PAC — effectively the Speaker’s PAC used to finance the House majority and defend our seats against Democrats — is less than a fraction of the $8 million that Howell has raised to build and defend a Republican majority that groups like Equality Virginia are seeking to destroy.
Unfortunately we don’t get the specifics of the donation from TBE — and I’d like to know them. But $6,000 out of $8 million? Meh…
Let’s rewind the tape to pro-life legislation in the General Assembly. It’s been a slow, torturous process to advance solid pro-life legislation. Too often, I find myself in opposition to most of it, because the weenies tend to append most bills with trap doors that end in “and then you can kill the baby.” As a Catholic, I find that horrific, insensitive, cruel, and demeaning to the value and dignity of human life.
Not everyone agrees with my interpretation of pro-life; most Protestants do not, and even a few Catholics think that the legacy of Pope John Paul II should be and might be undone by Pope Francis, a dream held by a generation that is quickly dying off and marginally being replaced by a generation decimated by Roe.
There are plenty of things to disagree upon with just about any elected official. Life, debt spending, budget priorities, massive tax hikes, jobs undone vs. missions accomplished, incremental changes too slow for the chattering classes yet involve the hard work of governance. These are all good and decent topics to discuss and should be discussed by both Howell and Stimpson — along with the totality of their records both in elective office and outside of it.
But Howell not being pro-life? No rational observer stomachs that, anymore than the vicious slurs and clandestine e-mails thrown at Susan Stimpson in 2013 were valid and where I personally took offense at the attacks:
Then came the e-mails… source docs and all.
I won’t bore you with the details of those e-mails. Stimpson deserves a great deal of credit for opposing the establishment of abortion clinics within Stafford County — rumors were wild about the potential location of one near the Stafford Courthouse area for some time, and Susan did indeed lead the charge to kill it. Though pro-lifers may not immediately recognize Stimpson, she is definitely one of us.
If pro-life is your issue, both Howell and Stimpson pass the bar. Deutsch’s heart is in the right place, but that merry-go-round could spin all day long. We are a long ways off from an environment where a 100% pro-life position and a society that defends the infinite value and dignity of the human person is in sight, but I firmly believe we are winning that culture war.
For one, I just can’t mentally twist either Howell or Stimpson as moral opponents in that fight.
