Bob Schaffer, formerly of the U.S. Congress, currently is running for Senate against Mark Udall. As I’ve reviewed, Udall has clearly and unambiguously endorsed the separation of church and state. What about Schaffer? While he has not replied to my inquiry, and while I don’t know his views on a variety of issues, he has made very clear his views on abortion.
Recently the Rocky Mountain News published a speech that Schaffer delivered in 2000 in northeastern Colorado, when Schaffer was a member of Congress. Following are some of the most important quotes:
[A]bortion as a a constitutional right… was first fabricated… in 1973… when our government stripped from the unborn child the fundamental Right to Life. …
Tonight I want to congratulate this Pro-Life Alliance assembled here, because you have not abandoned that opening precept of our American Declaration. Nor have you abandoned the self-evident Truth that, regardless of the opinions of Washington, D.C.’s elite, the natural, God-given Rights of the unborn are still very much in force.
Your very presence here tonight reinforces it. Your money, your time, and most of all, your prayers are all testimony to the unifying force of the Creator and the true benevolence of Divine Providence. Indeed, it was 2000 years ago that He revealed to the world the way of victory over death, through a Child.
And it is because of the promise of the Christ Child that we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God hears our prayers for all souls. He hears our prayers that His mercy be generously dispensed upon the souls of the unborn, the souls of their mothers, their fathers, and even their executioners and all those who, through their own weakness, have become the counselors of darkness.
Our prayer and our mission here tonight is for life. Friends, the simple fact is, at abortion mills across the country, there is simply too much death, and too much violence. It is wrong, and it must stop. Whether perpetrated against the unborn, or any other human being, violence and premature death is always wrong. …
See to it that this Republic for which we stand is truly one nation under God, and that we do extend the full benefits of Liberty and Justice to all living human beings, born and unborn.
At least Schaffer’s statements are unambiguous. He believes that God prohibits abortion in all cases, that a fertilized egg has a God-given soul, and that the government should obey God’s will. A search of the speech for “rape,” “incest,” and “life of the the mother” pulls up only “not found.” Abortion “is always wrong,” according to Schaffer (though I don’t know whether he has since made any concessions).
It would be nice if my choice in the race weren’t between a socialist and a theocrat. But I absolutely cannot vote for the theocrat.