A letter drafted by Students for Life Action signed by leaders from the Family Research Council, Susan B. Anthony List, National Right to Life, March for Life and many others goes to Senate Leadership today  

“Mr. Becerra has consistently used the power of his office to attack Americans who think differently than him and to advance the interests of the abortion lobby when he had the authority to do so,” they note. 

 

WASHINGTON D.C. (12-21-2020) – A powerhouse coalition of more than 40 pro-family and pro-life leaders joined a letter written by Students for Life Action calling on U.S. Senators to VOTE NO on the confirmation of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS.) 

About the letter to be delivered today to U.S. Senators, Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins said, “Pro-family and pro-life leaders have come together to send the clear message that weaponizing America’s healthcare systems against pro-lifers and people of faith must never be allowed or tolerated. There is a reason that Planned Parenthood and their abortion allies believe they have been ‘wildly successful’ with a possible Becerra pick. They don’t care that he has no healthcare experience, because as a lawyer, he has used the law against everyone from nuns to pregnancy care centers to the FDA to advance a radical abortion agenda. 

SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins was joined on the letter by Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council; Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List; James Dobson Ph.D., Founder & President, Dr. James Dobson Family Institute; Jeanne Mancini, March for Life; Carol Tobias, National Right to Life; Lila Rose, President and Founder, Live Action; David Daleiden, The Center for Medical Progress; Abby Johnson, Founder, And Then There were None; Thomas A. Glessner, JD, President, National Institute of Family & Life Advocates (NIFLA), and L. Brent Bozell III, Founder and President, Media Research Center and many others, listed below. 

This SFLAction effort follows our nationwide petition calling on the U.S.  Senate to VOTE NO on Becerra to head HHS, in part because of his aggressive legal action to get rid of FDA health and safety standards protecting women from dangerous and deadly Chemical Abortion pills. Learn more at THIS IS CHEMICAL ABORTION or Hawkins’s op-ed in RealClearPolitics, titled “HHS Nominee Becerra Has Downplayed Abortion Pill Risks.”  

LETTER FOUND ON-LINE HERE: 

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Chairman Alexander, and Ranking Member Murray, 

On behalf of our supporters, allies, and the members of the American public who recognize the value and dignity of all human life, both born and preborn, we urge you today to reject the nomination of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Mr. Becerra has consistently used the power of his office to attack people who think differently than him and to advance the interests of the abortion lobby when he had the authority to do so. We the undersigned have grave concerns about how he would use the power of the nation’s healthcare systems to advance his preference for abortion and express his disregard for people of faith by forcing support, payment, and compliance with policies that he prefers.

Mr. Becerra carries a national reputation for his vehement, unwavering support for abortion including in the ninth month, his staunch convictions in opposition to conscience rights for medical professionals, and his hostile opinions regarding the freedoms of religious organizations, among other issues that are of major concern to us. As we speak, Mr. Becerra is in the midst of litigation that would revoke the Little Sisters of the Poor’s religious exemption in the state of California – following, of course, his historic lawsuit which sought to force the nuns to pay for services in direct conflict with their religious convictions. His bias for anti-life, anti-religion policy is apparent, and he should be rejected to serve as a national department head.

For 24 years, Mr. Becerra served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he consistently voted againstany and all protections for the preborn, even up to the moment of birth. Mr. Becerra has rejected such basic, majority-supported policies as bans on partial-birth abortion and taxpayer funding of abortion, in addition to numerous others that would have acknowledged and defended the humanity of the preborn child.

A focal point of Mr. Becerra’s career as attorney general of California has been his rabid prosecution of pro-life journalists and whistleblowers, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, whose undercover reporting exposed Planned Parenthood’s alleged involvement in harvesting the organs of the preborn and trafficking them for research. In 2017, Mr. Becerra filed 15 felony charges against Daleiden and Merritt, making them the first individual in California’s history to be criminally-prosecuted over the state’s video recording law.

Most recently, in 2018, Mr. Becerra defended California’s attempt to force pro-life medical clinics and pregnancy resource centers to provide information about abortion services in the landmark case, NIFLA v. Becerra. Such a law would have required that these service providers to produce written or digital information for patients on how to obtain an abortion, which would have been a clear assault on conscience protections and a direct violation of their first amendment rights.

As has been noted by Kaiser Health News, none of Becerra’s work experiences “comes from front-line experience as an executive or administrator running public health programs, managing patient care or controlling the spread of disease.” He is a partisan politician whose loyalty to abortion interests has led to celebration from Planned Parenthood and abortion activists who consider themselves “wildly successful” in achieving their goals so far. 

We urge you not to confirm Mr. Becerra. It is our hope, based on the information provided here and the countless other examples of Becerra’s partisanship in his current role, that you will choose to reject such a brazen attempt at weaponizing one of our nation’s most critical and influential cabinet positions and vote no on the confirmation of Mr. Becerra.

Thank you for your time. 

Sincerely, 

Kristan Hawkins 

Students for Life of America/SFLAction

And Names of Co-Signers in Alphabetical Order:  

Alfonso Aguilar
President, Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles

Christopher Bell
President, Good Counsel homes for mothers and babies

Christina Bennett
Communications Director, Family Institute of Connecticut

Ryan Bomberger
The Radiance Foundation

Father Shenan J. Boquet
Human Life International

L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President, Media Research Center

Larry Cirignano 
Children First Foundation

Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman, Eagle Forum

David Daleiden
The Center for Medical Progress

Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List

James Dobson Ph.D.
Founder & President
Dr. James Dobson Family Institute

Steven Ertelt, Editor
LifeNews.com

Craig DeRoche
President & CEO, Family Policy Alliance

Day Gardner 
President, National Black Pro-Life Union

Herb Geraghty
Rehumanize International

Brian Gibson
Executive Director, Pro-Life Action Ministries 

Thomas A. Glessner, JD
President, National Institute of Family & Life Advocates (NIFLA)

Jor-El Godsey
Heartbeat International

Astrid Bennett Gutierrez
The VIDA Initiative

Walter B. Hoye II and Lori Hoye 
Issues4Life Foundation

Abby Johnson
Founder, And Then There were None
Life Story featured in the movie Unplanned 

Jason Jones
Founder, Movie to Movement  

Joe Langfeld | Executive Director
Human Life Alliance

Jeanne Mancini
March for Life

Monica Migliorino Miller, PH.D.  
Director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society

Bertica Cabrera Morris
Latinos for Trump & Catholics for Trump.

Steven W. Mosher
President, Population Research Institute 

Lauren Muzyka
Executive Director, Sidewalk Advocates for Life

James Nolan, Esq.
President, Crossroads Pro-Life

Brendan H. O’Connell 
President, Life Matters TV and Media, inc.

Joe O’Farrell
Catholic Media and Development Consultant.

Melissa Ohden 
The Abortion Survivors Network

Allan Parker
The Justice Foundation

Pastor Joseph Parker
American Family Association

Tony Perkins 
President, Family Research Council

Lila Rose 
President and Founder, Live Action

Yvonne Florczak Seeman
President and Founder of P.O.W.E.R.
Protectors of Women’s EQUAL Rights

Alexandra Snyder, Esq
CEO, Life Legal Defense Foundation

Carol Tobias
National Right to Life

Dan Zeidler
Family Life Council, Inc.