Washington D.C., Jul 27, 2016 / 12:23 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine has reportedly changed his mind on a long-standing policy preventing government funding of most abortions, less than three weeks after affirming his support for the measure.
The reported change has led critics to charge that the Democratic Party is intolerant of those within its ranks who hold pro-life views – even moderate ones.
For 30 years, the Hyde Amendment has prohibited certain taxpayer funds – generally those through the Department of Health and Human Services – from going toward abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is deemed to be at stake.
The amendment has enjoyed widespread bipartisan support and has been renewed every year since 1976 in annual appropriations bills, regardless of which party was in power at the time.
For the first time, however, the Democratic platform this year explicitly called for a repeal of the Hyde Amendment, prompting pro-life activists to call it the “most extreme” platform on abortion ever.
Kaine is a Catholic with a complicated record on abortion. While he says that he personally opposes abortion, he supports it politically.
As Governor of Virginia, he often spoke of adoption as the best solution to unwanted pregnancy, and approved the sale of “Choose Life” license plates, whose proceeds help fund pro-life clinics. He supported abstinence-only sex education for a time (although he later cut funding saying the program was not working), and backed Virginia’s informed consent law, which requires women seeking an abortion to receive an ultrasound of the developing fetus prior to the procedure.
However, since entering the Senate in 2010, his record has shifted significantly. He has maintained a consistently pro-abortion voting record, earning him a 100 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
On July 6, Kaine was asked by The Weekly Standard about language in a draft of the Democratic Party’s platform which called for an end to the Hyde Amendment.
Kaine said that he was not aware of change, adding, “I have traditionally been a supporter of the Hyde amendment, but I'll check it out.”
On July 22, Kaine was officially announced as Hillary Clinton’s running mate. Four days later, CNN reported that the Virginia senator had changed his stance on the Hyde Amendment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clinton's Robby Mook to <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper">@jaketapper</a>: "(Kaine) has said he will stand w/ Sec Clinton to...repeal the Hyde amendment." <a href="https://t.co/x4hwaZCcKJ">https://t.co/x4hwaZCcKJ</a></p>— Edward Mejia Davis (@TeddyDavisCNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeddyDavisCNN/status/758039183571189761">July 26, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clinton spokesman <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseFFerguson">@JesseFFerguson</a> tells me <a href="https://twitter.com/timkaine">@TimKaine</a>'s commitment to stand w/ Hillary on repealing the Hyde amendment "was made privately."</p>— Edward Mejia Davis (@TeddyDavisCNN) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeddyDavisCNN/status/758056421825060864">July 26, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, blasted the decision as caving to the demands of the abortion industry.
“Just 20 days ago Senator Kaine said he supported the Hyde Amendment, which stops taxpayers from funding abortion on-demand,” she said. “What has changed? The Democratic Party has become so bound to the abortion industry that there is no room for conscience. Before he could be considered fit for the role of VP to Hillary Clinton, Sen. Kaine had to divest himself of even the appearance of moderation on the abortion issue.”
“Clinton, Kaine, and (Planned Parenthood head Cecile) Richards are absolute extremists pushing the Democratic Party further and further on abortion, alienating the one-third of Democrats who call themselves pro-life,” Dannenfelser added.
Article Archive
Tim Kaine draws ire over flip-flop on Hyde Amendment
Related Articles • More Articles
Reporter Catherine Hadro speaks with Sister Mary Gianna of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and Frank DeAngelis on "EWTN News In Depth" on April 19, 2024. Sister Mary Gianna, also known as Jenica Thornby, was a sophomore at Columbine High School and DeAngelis was principal on April 20, 1999, when two gunmen killed 12 students and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves. / Credit: "EWTN News In Depth" screen shotsCNA Staff, Apr 22, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).Throughout her freshman and sophomore years at Columbine High School, Jenica Thornby went to the library every single day."Not one day went by that I did not go to the library," Thornby recently told "EWTN News In Depth" reporter Catherine Hadro. "Except one day."That day was April 20, 1999. "I was 16 years old, and I was sitting in my art class when all of a sudden I had this overwhelming urge to leave school," she recalled. "I just over [and over] in my head kept repeating, 'There's no way I'm staying her...
Left to right: Dr. John Bruchalski, a former abortionist and IVF provider, Emma Waters, a senior research associate at the Heritage Foundation, Andrew Kubick, a bioethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Religious Freedom Institute, and Sister Deirdre Byrne, superior of the D.C. Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts, discuss the "eugenic" dangers of in vitro fertilization at a panel event at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., April 18, 2024. / Credit: Photo by Peter Pinedo/CNAWashington D.C., Apr 22, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).A former abortionist and several pro-life ethicists are urging lawmakers to protect children and parents from the in vitro fertilization (IVF) industry, which they say operates on "eugenic" principles. IVF is a fertility treatment that works by inducing hyper-ovulation during a woman's cycle to harvest her eggs and then fuse them with sperm to conceive a child outside the womb. The Catholic Church is opposed t...
Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin of the Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat in Ethiopia, which covers the Tigray region. / Credit: CBCEACI Africa, Apr 22, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).The bishop of Ethiopia's Catholic Eparchy of Adigrat, which covers the Tigray region, said he has witnessed firsthand the "unspeakable suffering" and death of the people of God in the embattled region of the Horn of Africa nation.In a statement that ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, obtained April 19, Bishop Tesfasellassie Medhin pleaded for the implementation of the Nov. 2, 2022, peace agreement in Pretoria, South Africa, in which the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) pledged to "permanently silence the guns and end the two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia.""I am writing as a religious leader with deep concern and feeling for the pain of tens of millions of our population in the country, especially the children, elders, and women of Tigray," Medhin said. He pain...