6th Congressional - Pro Life Candidates

IMPORTANT NOTE: SEE CHANGES AT BOTTOM, DATED MON 8/11, AND NEW POST CLARIFYING THAT SEN. TED HARVEY'S POSITION IS NOT UNCOMPROMISED!

As will be explained soon, we have had discussions over whether it will be helpful to publish the results of our Legislative Scorecard publicly, as there are some complicated matters that need to be explained and cannot be left to a simple letter score.

But we believe it is important to explain our findings on the critical 6th District (south Metro Denver, Elbert Co., etc.) Republican Primary.

There are two of the four candidates on the ballot whose pro-life records we have no doubts about.

Sec. State Mike Coffman and Sen. Ted Harvey have both responded to the Colorado Right to Life candidate questionnaire. The other two candidates have not. Both Sen. Harvey and Secretary Coffman have carried pro-life bills in their legislative career. Some of the bills carried by both are not what CRTL would today ask for, but they are what CRTL asked for at the time, and we believe both candidates were sincerely meaning to do what was best for the lives of unborn children. Both Sec. Coffman and Sen. Harvey have promised (by answering our questionnaire) not to support "compromised" legislation in the future (i.e. legislation that allows abortions to occur once certain regulations have been met -- what we call "and then you can kill the baby" legislation, which we firmly believe entrenches the notion of a "right" to abortion in government/legal policy and in the minds of the public). We believe either of these candidates would serve Colorado pro-lifers well in Congress (THIS HAS CHANGED IN THE LAST 24 HOURS - MIKE COFFMAN REMAINS THE ONLY CANDIDATE FOR THE 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT WHO AGREES WITH CRTL ON UNCOMPROMISED LEGISLATION -- SEE NEW POST ON TED HARVEY!).

It is important to note that Wil Armstrong, another candidate for this seat, has also endorsed Amendment 48 (the Personhood Initiative), and has expressed (recently) a fairly strong pro-life position. However, he has not responded to the CRTL questionnaire even after several requests to do so (including directly on the radio), has never stated a strong pro-life position on his website, has seemed to treat the pro-life issue as an afterthought in his campaign (as have most GOP candidates in the recent past), and we are deeply concerned by the endorsement he has touted from Gov. Mitt Romney, who as many of you know has a long and continuing record of supporting abortion (he has flip-flopped on life issues depending on who he's talking to, and contrary to his claim of having converted to the pro-life side in 2004, he has supported abortion "rights" (including public funding) as recently as 2006. You may see American Right to Life Action's widely broadcast TV ads here. Romney is simply NOT pro-life, and we are concerned by Wil Armstrong's close affiliation with him. CRTL has no reason to believe Armstrong's pro-life views are anything more than an election year promise which we have no guarantee he will keep.

Lastly, Sen. Steve Ward has falsely claimed to be pro-life. His record over the past 2 years in CRTL's Legislative Scorecard earned him a "D" rating. Ward voted TWICE to support an "emergency contraception" bill which would require medical professionals to inform rape victims of the availability of means to kill their babies with abortifacient drugs such as RU-486 or Plan B (commonly known as "morning after pills"). CRTL's position is that any means, chemical or otherwise, to kill an already-conceived baby is nothing less than murder. We also believe that exceptions to allow abortion in case of rape or incest is a false compassion that does not help the mother, which kills an innocent human being, and can cover up the crimes of the father. Furthermore, Ward wrote a bill which was specifically directed at impairing the Free Speech rights of pro-life protestors who were holding up executives from Weitz Construction for ridicule in front of the public and his neighbors for being an abortion collaborator and building the largest abortion center then under construction in the United States (otherwise and foreverafter known as AuschWeitz). These votes can never be construed as "pro-life", and Sen. Ward clearly does not understand the Right to Life. Neither does he support Personhood for unborn children.

If you have any questions about these issues, please feel free to comment to these points, and we would be glad to respond.

EDITOR'S NOTE - MON 8/11: SEN. TED HARVEY HAS CLARIFIED IN TWO CONVERSATIONS WITH CRTL MEMBERS THAT HE STILL SUPPORTS "AND THEN YOU CAN KILL THE BABY" REGULATIONS. SEE NEW POST ON THIS SUBJECT, POSTING IN JUST A FEW MOMENTS.