Pro-life, pro-family causes make gains in election
- Nov 15, 2004 - comment
Pro-life and pro-family advocates took hope from the national election results.
Not only did the voters return to the White House a President who had supported pro-life legislation and a federal amendment to protect marriage, but they apparently increased the number of social conservatives in Congress.
Seven of the newly elected members of the Senate are pro-life, according to the National Right to Life Committee. They are, the NRLC reported, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, David Vitter of Louisiana, John Thune of South Dakota, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mel Martinez of Florida and Johnny Isakson of Georgia. All are Republicans. DeMint, Thune, Burr and Martinez replace pro-choice senators.
Twenty of the 38 new members of the House of Representatives are pro-life, and another three are expected to vote pro-life most of the time, according to the NRLC.
Supporters of the Marriage Protection Amendment expect a net gain of four votes in the Senate. The amendment, which was rejected in both houses this year, would define marriage as a union of only a man and a woman and prevent courts from legalizing same-sex marriage.
The increase of Senate Republicans from 51 to 55 may help on judicial nominees. It now may be possible for President Bush’s allies to change the Senate rules to prohibit filibusters on judicial nominees. If so, Republicans would no longer need 60 votes to end a filibuster but only a majority to confirm a nominee. On several of Bush’s nominees in his first term, there was a majority for confirmation but not 60 votes to invoke cloture.
With the additional GOP margin, Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, predicted if the Democrats’ tactics continue, “Majority Leader [Bill] Frist will try to change the rules to eliminate filibustering of nominees.”
Frist has hinted some form of action would be forthcoming. “I’m very confident that now we’ve gone from 51 seats to 55 seats, we will be able to overturn this, what has become customary, filibuster of judicial nominees,” Frist said Nov. 3, according to the Associated Press.
“Moral values” took the No. 1 spot on Americans’ list of issues that determined their vote for the presidency, according to nationwide exit polling by the National Election Pool. When asked to identify the most important issue in their decision, 22 percent cited “moral values.” Of those, 79 percent chose Bush, 18 percent Kerry and 2 percent Nader. The morality issue surpassed the economy, 20 percent; terrorism, 19 percent, and Iraq, 15 percent.
In addition, 22 percent of voters in the NEP exit poll were identified as white, evangelical/born again Christians. Of those, 77 percent voted for Bush, 22 percent for Kerry and 1 percent for independent Ralph Nader.
“The faith factor was the difference in this election,” Land said. “Even The New York Times acknowledged that the faith factor was determinative.
Not only did more than three-fourths of evangelicals vote for Bush, but “a whole lot more of them voted” than in 2000, Land said.
The ERLC, as well as other evangelical organizations and churches, promoted voter registration and education in an unprecedented manner this year. The ERLC initiated the year-long iVoteValues campaign and was joined by Focus on the Family in a joint effort.
“I want to take a moment to thank all the Southern Baptists and others who supported the iVoteValues campaign and who voted their values, beliefs and convictions and who encouraged others to vote their values, beliefs and convictions,” Land said.
In other evidence of the nationwide support for protecting marriage, voters in 11 states passed amendments protecting marriage as the union of a man and a woman. So far, all 17 states that have voted on such initiatives have approved them, most by overwhelming margins.
The pro-life cause suffered a major defeat in California, however. That state’s voters approved an initiative that legalizes destructive embryonic stem cell research and permits research cloning. The research will be funded with up to $3 billion in state bonds over 10 years.
Further Learning
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