On November 6, Americans head to the polls for an election that will have significant consequences for the country as a whole, but also for the cause of life.
Right to Life of Central California is a 501(c)(3) organization, so we cannot and do not endorse candidates or parties. We do, however, care deeply about the political ramifications of these elections, specifically as they relate to our public policy surrounding abortion. Here are some of the significant issues that can be impacted by this election.
- A Pro-Life reform of Obamacare: In 2017, the Republican majority in Congress failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. We at Right to Life do not take a position on the ACA as a whole, but strenuously oppose those portions of it that advance abortion funding. Through the Obamacare exchanges, taxpayers pay approximately $90 billion per year to subsidize insurance plans that cover abortion. Additionally, most of the GOP plans to replace the ACA would have cut off the nearly $500 million that Planned Parenthood receives every year in federal Medicaid reimbursements, which is the chief source of the abortion giant’s government funding.
- Embryo-Destructive Stem Cell Research: One area of pro-life policy where the Trump administration has not made progress is federal funding for embryo-destructive stem cell research. The Trump administration has left in place the Obama-era funding policies for this immoral research at the National Institutes of Health, and did not replace the pro-embryo-research NIH director, Dr. Francis Collins, one of the few Obama administration appointees still serving under the Trump administration. Not only is such research immoral for its destruction of innocent human beings, it is also immoral because of how irresponsibly it wastes federal money on an avenue of research that has yielded exactly zero medical cures. Jim Banks, a member of the House of Representatives from Indiana, wrote an excellent op-ed on this issue, and has introduced legislation to redirect federal funding to adult stem cell research, which poses no ethical difficulties and is far more effective for medical research.
- The Conscience Protection Act: The state of California forces all employers who provide health insurance coverage for their employees to pay for abortion coverage as part of any plan. This is in violation of certain provisions of federal law that forbid states from discriminating against healthcare plans on the basis of a failure to provide abortion coverage. Unfortunately, the federal government does not have an effective method of enforcing these rules. The Conscience Protection Act is a piece of legislation that has been introduced numerous times in the last two years, and it would allow California businesses to sue the state and compel it to follow federal law in this regard.
- Judges: President Trump has successfully nominated, and the US Senate has confirmed, 84 excellent judges to the federal courts. This includes the confirmations of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, whom most observers believe are likely to overturn or greatly limit Roe v. Wade and its successor case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The President cannot name judges on his own; every federal judge must also be confirmed by a majority in the United States Senate. The President currently has 7 circuit court judges and 48 district court judges whose nominations are pending Senate confirmation, and it is certain that more vacancies will arise over the next two years. It is always possible that another vacancy could even arise on the US Supreme Court.
We encourage our supporters to get educated, and to get out and VOTE!