When life-long Democrat Brian Hunter began attending prolife rallies nearly seven years ago, he felt lonely and isolated. Speakers and participants tended to bash Democrats and link prolife views with the conservative political agenda. Then Hunter began carrying signs proclaiming his party affiliation. Expecting arguments and opposition, he was amazed by the reaction. “People came up and talked to me, either saying they were in the same boat or that they were grateful for my position,” he recalls.
Rescue Leader Mahoney In Race
As the Democratic primary season moves into full swing, voters in many states will be seeing the name of Operation Rescue leader Patrick J. Mahoney on the slate of presidential candidates. Mahoney, 37, is best known for his prolife work. But the former pastor and member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church says his campaign is addressing a full range of issues.
Mahoney decided to enter the race while sitting in jail in Wichita, Kansas, where he was arrested during Operation Rescue’s major effort last summer. Targeting Catholics and progressive evangelicals, he believes he has struck a chord: “There are many, many people who are Christian, who hold dear the values of Scripture, but who are not conservative Republicans.”
Mahoney admits up front that he is “an outside candidate and an unknown.” He has never held public or elected office, although he has been actively involved in Democratic politics for many years. Until last year, the resident of Boca Raton, Florida, directed the Center for Christian Activism.
Mahoney is campaigning only in states where he believes he has a chance of beating at least one of the five major Democratic candidates. In the Iowa caucuses last month, he came in sixth with 0.7 percent of the vote, just behind fifth-place Jerry Brown’s 1.5 percent showing. In the three counties where he concentrated his efforts, he came in second behind favorite son Tom Harkin.
Mahoney’s biggest problem has been getting the public and the press to take him seriously. In Iowa, news media refused to name him separately, instead lumping him in the “other” category along with 60 other Democrats who are running. Mahoney garnered 60 convention delegates—compared to one for all the others. Several states are denying him ballot access. Money for his campaign has been scarce.
Nonetheless, Mahoney insists he is staying in the race to transmit a twofold message. To the Democrats: “The party cannot win back the White House without profamily, prolife working-class Catholics and evangelicals.” And to Christians: “If we want cultural revolution in this nation, we must stop backing lukewarm candidates and start running for public office ourselves.”
Buoyed by the response, Hunter and his family began a group they call Democrats for Life. Based out of Hunter’s home in the Bronx, it consists of little more than a short, but growing list of names and addresses. Hunter admits it is far from a national movement. But, he says, “It’s a start.”
Media attention this election season has focused on the fight looming in the Republican party over abortion (CT, Jan. 13, 1992, p. 46). Yet, contrary to most press reports—and the assumptions of top party leadership—abortion is not a settled issue for the Democrats. With an eye on November, thousands of activists like Hunter appear ready to put the party and the country on notice that the term “prolife Democrat” is not an oxymoron.
Front-Burner Issue
Attention to the abortion issue will be heightened during this election because of the Supreme Court’s acceptance of a key abortion case. Next month the Court is expected to hear oral arguments in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. The case will examine the constitutionality of a law that places several restrictions on abortion, including a mandate that doctors tell women about alternatives to abortion and give them information about fetal development at least 24 hours before the procedure is performed.
Both advocates and opponents of abortion look to this as the test case to determine the strength and viability of the Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. It is possible that the justices could uphold the Pennsylvania law without commenting on Roe. But even that, both sides agree, would signal Roe’s demise and throw the issue into the hands of elected officials.
Pundits have already begun speculating about the impact of the Court’s decision, which should be handed down by the end of June. “If the Court overturns Roe v. Wade, then choice becomes a front-burner political issue,” says Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown. “The benefit is to the Democratic party.”
But not all Democrats agree. “On the fundamental issue of abortion, the national Democratic party does not speak for me,” Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey told a packed audience at the National Press Club late in January. “Interest groups that take the most extreme prochoice view have too much control over the party on this issue,” he said, adding he believes that by caving in to those groups, the Democratic party “disables its own candidates for President.”
Indeed, prolife Democrats are disappointed that, once again, all of their major presidential candidates are proabortion. All five contenders consider themselves “strongly prochoice” and told the National Women’s Political Caucus they support the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a bill currently before Congress that would prohibit states from restricting abortion. The candidates all appeared in January before the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) gala fund-raiser in Washington, D.C.
Ardent prochoicers consider Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton suspect because he signed into law a state measure requiring teenagers to notify their parents before an abortion. He has also supported restrictions on using public funds for abortions but says that as President he would not veto any bill requiring Medicaid funds for abortions. Ironically, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), and former California governor Jerry Brown have all taken positions against abortion in the past but have now convinced the proabortion lobby they pass muster.
Prochoice Money
Rep. Tim Penny (D-Minn.) says finances play a major role in the mix. “A lot of the money for Democratic candidates will not be available for Democrats who hold a prolife view,” he says. NARAL, for example, has pledged to spend a minimum of $4 million in the 1992 elections. But the prolife congressman says other major interest groups that traditionally support Democrats, including education and labor organizations, have bought into the prochoice agenda as well. “The political system, in terms of where the money comes from to run these campaigns, is prejudiced against prolife Democrats.”
Many rank-and-file Democrats believe the party’s entrenched proabortion position will cause it once again to lose the White House. “There are a lot of Democrats who are voting Republican because of this one issue,” says Hunter, who admits he is among that group. “I don’t want politicians who represent me to be unclear on how holy life is, so I will vote for a Republican who understands the preciousness of life before I’ll vote for a Democrat who might agree with me on other issues such as labor or civil rights.”
Jackie Schwietz, co-executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life and a 1988 delegate to the Democratic National Convention, says she is frustrated that the party does not value the support of prolife voters. “I keep wondering how many more national elections we have to lose before they see the handwriting on the wall,” she says.
According to Schwietz, Minnesota prolifers make up about 30 percent of the state’s caucus and, like it or not, the rest of the party is forced to respect them. “That’s the key for prolife Demo crats,” she says. “They’ve got to get involved, and even if it may not be the most comfortable thing they’ve ever done, they’ve got to stay with it.”
That was exactly the philosophy that prompted Pat Mahoney, a Presbyterian minister and a leader in Operation Rescue, to make his run at the Democratic nomination (see “Rescue Leader Mahoney in Race,” p. 52). “Usually when prolife Democrats aspire to national office, they abandon their prolife position because they have to bow at the altar of abortion and cater to the proabortion party elite,” he says.
Veto Victories
The abortion fires will be hot under congressional candidates this fall as well. Currently, a majority of senators back the abortion-rights position, but the House of Representatives remains sharply split on the issue. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) told 70,000 prolifers gathered in Washington for January’s March for Life that the prolife movement “has captured the hearts and the support of both political parties.”
Up to 80 of the 268 Democrats have voted prolife during the current congressional session, providing a key to prolife victories. In November, 43 Democrats broke ranks with their party and voted to sustain President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have lifted federal regulations prohibiting family-planning clinics from counseling for abortion. That vote passed by a margin of only 12.
With the Supreme Court poised to scale back or scrap Roe, abortion advocates appear to have made the Freedom of Choice Act their top priority this year. In his response to Bush’s State of the Union address, Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-Wash.) pledged that “if the Supreme Court removes the guarantee of choice from the Constitution of the United States, this Congress will write it into the laws of the United States.” However, the FOCA lobby was dealt a serious blow last month when Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) announced his opposition to the bill. According to the Washington Post, Mitchell, a staunch abortion-rights supporter, fears the bill would run over states’ rights.
Grassroots Democrats admit that, overall, the party is unlikely to move significantly closer to a prolife position this year. However, most say they are dedicated to the cause for the long haul. “If I didn’t have any hope, I wouldn’t stay involved,” says Schwietz. “But I think there is always hope. We can take the party again.”
By Kim A. Lawton.
Religion And The Race
Between now and November, CHRISTIANITY TODAY will highlight various aspects of the major presidential candidates’ positions and beliefs.
Jerry Brown. Brown grew up Roman Catholic and studied for the priesthood at a Jesuit seminary. In an essay describing his spiritual journey, Brown says he ended his vocation nearly four years later, “when the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience no longer made sense to me.” He went on to a high-profile career in politics, but in 1982 took a hiatus to “look inward.” Brown traveled to Mexico, where he says the mixture of Christianity and native pre-Columbian religion made him recapture “my faith, which since the ’60’s had all but vanished.” Subsequently, Brown visited Asia, where he studied under a Zen Buddhist teacher. He then went to Calcutta, where he volunteered for Mother Teresa’s mission works. From all of those spiritual experiences, Brown says he has come to the philosophy behind his political ambitions: “The greatest opportunity imaginable is to serve and serve completely.” He now calls himself a Christian, but does not affiliate with any particular church, according to a campaign spokesperson.
Bill Clinton. For the past ten years, Clinton has been a member of Immanuel Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church in Little Rock, Arkansas. According to associate pastor David Napier, the 4,200-member congregation “traditionally has been a conservative Southern Baptist church,” but has “pretty much stayed out of the denominational struggles the convention has been in.” Napier describes the church as being “very missions oriented” and active in inner-city ministries. Napier says Clinton supports the church financially, attends “fairly regularly, and sings in the choir whenever he’s here on Sunday.” Clinton’s wife, Hillary, is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Little Rock, although she and their daughter accompany the governor to Immanuel Baptist occasionally.
Tom Harkin. In talking about his background, Harkin always describes himself as a “life-long Catholic.” He received his law degree from Catholic University of America. Since coming to the Senate, Harkin has not affiliated with any particular church in Washington, but he still retains membership at Saint John’s Catholic Church in Cumming, Iowa, the town where he grew up. In various speeches, Harkin has said he will not let the Catholic Church dictate his position on abortion, but he has credited Cumming and the church there with teaching him the values he still holds, values he considers to be the same as “the values of ordinary, hardworking people all over America.”
Bob Kerrey. For more than ten years, Kerrey has held membership at First Plymouth Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ body in Lincoln, Nebraska. According to senior pastor Otis Young, Kerrey “attends quite regularly when he’s in town.” The church, which has about 2,100 members, is active in addressing “issues of social justice and world peace,” Young says. A brochure describes members of First Plymouth as coming “from a variety of religious traditions.” “Though we encourage a broad spectrum of theological perspectives, we work, worship, and grow togther as one congregation.”
Paul Tsongas. Tsongas is a member of Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in his hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. He describes growing up in a “very traditional ethnic household,” where the Greek Orthodox church played an important role. In his writings and speeches, Tsongas has spoken about the importance of spirituality in discovering our purpose as individuals and as Americans. “We all seek God in our own way,” he writes in his book, A Call to Economic Arms. “A public acknowledgment of that search and a stated respect for wherever that search may lead are not improper activities for the political leadership of this nation.”
George Bush. Bush is an Episcopalian who faithfully attends church whether across the street from the White House, at the chapel of Camp David, or in Kennebunkport. In a 1988 interview, he told CHRISTIANITY TODAY that he is uncomfortable discussing his faith publicly because it has been such a “personal thing.” At the same time, he says “there was never any doubt that Jesus Christ was my Savior and Lord.” In a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters last month, Bush said, “I believe one can’t be president of America without a belief in God and in prayer.”
Pat Buchanan. Buchanan grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family and has retained his devotion to the faith. He attends Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. Buchanan speaks often about the primacy of Judeo-Christian values in regaining the nation’s strength. In his book, Right from the Beginning, Buchanan talks at length about how his personal faith has influenced his political views. “We did not learn our values and convictions from books or bull sessions with college professors. Our conservatism was learned at the dinner tables, soaked up in parochial school, picked up on the street corner, and imbibed in high school where Jesuits emphasized first and foremost the salvation of your immortal soul,” he writes.
