Bob Casey Jr. Won't Say if He'll Filibuster Bills to Fund Abortion

Denver
Following a panel hosted by Democrats for Life of America, I asked Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey Jr. if he would filibuster any bill that would provide taxpayer funding for abortions through Medicaid or insurance coverage of abortion through a national health care plan--measures that Barack Obama has said he will enact as president. Casey replied that he and Obama "obviously disagree" on taxpayer funding of abortion, but he declined to say if he would support a filibuster: "I'm not going to make prognostications about legislative strategies on this or any other issue."

Democrats have been trying to reach out to pro-life voters by arguing that as president Barack Obama would do more than John McCain to reduce the abortion rate by funding government programs to prevent unintended pregnancies and support pregnant women. But taxpayer funding would likely do much more to increase the number of abortions than these programs would reduce them.

Following the November elections, in all likelihood, the only way to prevent abortion-funding legislation from passing the Senate would be a filibuster that has the support of pro-life Democratic senators like Bob Casey Jr. and Harry Reid. Casey's refusal to state his position on such a filibuster should be of great concern for anyone committed to reducing the number of abortions.