A group of state and national pro-life leaders are urging Iowa voters to support anyone except Donald Trump, referring to him as a man who “has impugned the dignity of women,” including Fox News host Megyn Kelly and his 2016 GOP rival, Carly Fiorina.
The pro-life leaders sent the following letter to Iowa voters:
Dear Iowans,
As pro-life women leaders from Iowa and across the nation, we urge Republican caucus-goers and voters to support anyone but Donald Trump. On the issue of defending unborn children and protecting women from the violence of abortion, Mr. Trump cannot be trusted and there is, thankfully, an abundance of alternative candidates with proven records of pro-life leadership whom pro-life voters can support. We have come to this conclusion after having listened patiently to numerous debates and news reports, but most importantly to Donald Trump’s own words.
The next president will be responsible for as many as four nominations to the Supreme Court. Mr. Trump has given us only one indication about the type of judges he would appoint, and it does not bode well for those who would like to see the court overturn Roe v. Wade. Mr. Trump has said his sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who struck down the Partial Birth Abortion Ban in New Jersey, would be a “phenomenal” choice for the court. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump also said he thought pro-choice Senator Scott Brown would make a “very good” Vice President. If one truly believes, as we do, that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life and is committed to the pro-life priorities of ending abortion after five months, and defunding the nation’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, it would be a disaster to have a vice president who disagrees.
Moreover, as women, we are disgusted by Mr. Trump’s treatment of individuals, women, in particular. He has impugned the dignity of women, most notably Megyn Kelly, he mocked and bullied Carly Fiorina, and has through the years made disparaging public comments to and about many women. Further, Mr. Trump has profited from the exploitation of women in his Atlantic City casino hotel which boasted of the first strip club casino in the country.
America will only be a great nation when we have leaders of strong character who will defend both unborn children and the dignity of women. We cannot trust Donald Trump to do either. Therefore we urge our fellow citizens to support an alternative candidate.
The signers of the letter are:
Jenifer Bowen, Executive Director, Iowa Right to Life
Denise Bubeck, Member and Iowa Volunteer, Concerned Women for America
Kendra Burger, Director of Educational Outreach, Iowa Right to Life
Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List
Christine Hurley, Iowa Pro-life Activist
Beverly LaHaye, Founder and Chairman, Concerned Women for America
Marilyn Musgrave, Fmr. Congresswoman, VP of Government Affairs, Susan B. Anthony List
Penny Nance, President and CEO, Concerned Women for America
Star Parker, Founder and President, Urbancure Luana Stoltenberg, Iowa Leader, Operation Outcry
In a separate statement Penny Nance – who heads Concerned Women for America – said: “I think respect for women is very important, and the idea that he profited from strippers and from exploiting women we find very disturbing.”
In 2013, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino became the first casino in Atlantic City, N.J., to have an in-house strip club. Though Trump no longer operates that casino himself, bankruptcy filings reported by the Wall Street Journal the following year revealed he held a five percent stake in the stock of the company that manages it, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc.
“The seedy underworld of strip joints and sex trafficking and prostitution are often connected, and the idea that Donald profited from the exploitation of women directly is very discouraging to me,” said Nance. “It’s a serious issue. I’m not kidding.”
As Breitbart News reported, Fiorina was the only GOP presidential candidate invited to speak at the March for Life last week. The committee that organizes the march set the theme of “Pro-Life, Pro-Woman Go Hand-in-Hand,” as a way to counter the “war on women” rhetoric that is prominent in the main-stream media and in establishment Democrat candidates, such as Hillary Clinton, and her supporters, such as Planned Parenthood.
“Mrs. Fiorina was asked to speak because she embodies the theme particularly well; she will speak only to the theme, not her candidacy,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said in a statement to Breitbart News, when she was asked why – during an election year in which the GOP can tout many strong pro-life candidates – only Fiorina was invited.
“The March for Life does not get involved in electioneering,” Mancini continued. “Nor are we able to accommodate every person who asks to speak at the March. For example, we don’t have capacity for every pro-life legislator who requests a speaking slot; congress is only one small (albeit critical) portion of the March for Life rally.”
Nevertheless, despite the claim that Fiorina would not appear at the March for Life as a candidate, she did give a rousing stump speech, as Breitbart News also reported.
“You can bet I’ll win this fight against Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina said. “And you can count on what I’ll do as President. I will defund Planned Parenthood. I will support the pregnancy centers around the country that are actually serving the families in their communities. Together, we will restore the character of this nation.”
Fiorina has been a prominent pro-life figure – even prior to her candidacy – and while on the campaign trail has been heckled by Planned Parenthood supporters who threw condoms at her.
“I respect the fact that Carly Fiorina has paid a price for her outspoken support,” Nance told Breitbart News in an interview. “And it is always true that women earn a particularly deep spite from the left because of our pro-life views, and I think we have seen that with Carly Fiorina’s candidacy.”
“But, especially in a year when Republicans will, more than likely, be running against a woman, I think it’s important that we push the message forward that women are not monolithic, and that, by and large, we may not all agree [on everything]…,” she added, “but we certainly do not agree with Hillary Clinton, that abortion should be legal at any point in gestation up until birth for any reason, that a woman can have any number of abortions, and that it should all be paid for by taxpayers.”