By Dave Andrusko
Game on! When National Right to Life officially endorsed pro-life Mitt Romney for President this morning, it meant the nation’s most savvy, tenacious, and effective political action committee—NRL PAC—would be on the side of the former governor of Massachusetts. In a race where everyone expects a nail-biter, this is hugely important.
Gov. Romney thanked NRLC in a message he sent after learning of the endorsement:
“The National Right to Life Committee has been on the front lines of the fight to protect the unborn and uphold the sanctity of life. I appreciate their leadership and the tireless commitment of their nationwide grassroots pro-life effort. I am grateful for their support and honored by the trust they have placed in me. And I look forward to working together to carry out the great responsibility of defending and protecting innocent human life.”
In the first words from NRLC President Carol Tobias, reporters were told the fundamental reason NRLC was endorsing Gov. Romney:
“On pro-life issues, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama provide a stark contrast. As the country’s most pro-abortion president, Barack Obama has pursued a radical pro-abortion agenda.”
Mrs. Tobias’s full statement, and the remarks of Rai Rojas, Director of Hispanic Outreach, are part of today’s edition of National Right to Life News Today. And if you want a sense of almost being there, you will be able to watch them when their videos are posted on YouTube later tonight.
Between these resources you will read/hear President Obama’s lengthy pro-abortion track record and the solidly pro-life positions taken by Gov. Romney.
Reporters asked two principal questions. Why did National Right to Life wait to endorse, unlike 2008? And what about Gov. Romney’s change of heart on abortion?
In 2008 there was a pro-abortion candidate in the field, Mrs. Tobias explained. National Right to Life wanted to make sure he did not get the nomination, and so NRLC endorsed a candidate early.
By contrast, this election cycle all the GOP candidates are pro-life. “They actively campaigned as pro-life; they took strong positions,” she said. “So we early on said we’ll be very happy with whoever gets the nomination. At this time, it has become apparent that Mitt Romney will be the party nominee, and we’ll do everything we can to help him beat Barack Obama.”
What about Gov. Romney, who once campaigned as “pro-choice”?
“The pro-life movement is filled with converts,” Mrs. Tobias said, “and we consider Mitt Romney to be one of those.” She cited Ronald Reagan who, as governor of California, signed a permissive abortion bill into law, later saw the error of his ways, and went on to become a great pro-life President.
And there is Dr. Bernard Nathanson, she said, producer of the path-breaking pro-life video, “The Silent Scream,” who was not only one of the founders of NARAL but actually performed abortions. Moreover, Mrs. Tobias emphasized, our Movement is filled with women who have had abortions and who work to help women avoid that same tragic mistake. This is a Movement of second chances.
Mr. Rojas began his presentation by speaking in Spanish for perhaps three or four minutes. After he finished he smiled and told reporters he did so to convey a very important truth about what pro-lifers quite properly call “the hydra-headed monster commonly known as ObamaCare.“
“I see that some of you seem a bit uncomfortable and that most of you didn’t understand what I just said. And it is more than that really because it isn’t so much that you didn’t comprehend the words I said but you didn’t understand WHY I said them.
“You may have felt frustrated and confused, but I promise you that by the end of the day you’ll have forgotten. Now imagine, please, a young Hispanic couple standing around a hospital looking down at their only child as a bureaucrat tries to explain to them that a Junta composed of more faceless bureaucrats has decided against providing their daughter with the lifesaving health care she needs.
“They are truly confused, and frustrated and don’t at all understand. But unlike you, who were just now confused by a foreign language, the issue here is not linguistic; the couple is fluent enough in English. What they don’t understand is: How did it come to pass that in this great nation policy enforcers and not doctors have decided that their daughter will die?
“This IS the looming reality of ObamaCare.”
Be sure to read Mrs. Tobias’s and Mr. Rojas’s presentations and share them with friends. When you do you will understand exactly why, as Mrs. Tobias said at the outset of the press conference,
“It is now time for pro-life Americans to unite behind Mitt Romney. For the sake of unborn children, the disabled, and the elderly, we must win.”
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