On January 22, 2015 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban taxpayer funding of abortion. By a 63 vote margin, the House came to the common sense judgment that American tax dollars should not pay for abortion. The people of Rhode Island, however, were not well served as Congressman Jim Langevin voted against this ban. R.I. Catholics are profoundly disappointed that he chose not to vote on the side of life.
Congressman Langevin began his congressional career as an advocate of the pro-life cause. He accepted the endorsement of the R.I. Right to Life Committee and promised to be a champion for the cause of human life. After a hard fought campaign, he was sent to Washington on a pro-life platform.
Rhode Islanders have since been disappointed in his voting record. Langevin would eventually support tax payer funding of embryonic stem-cell research which means he supports the federal funding of the killing of the youngest of humans. He has been a supporter of redefining marriage — undermining a sacred institution and placing partisan politics over the common good. Yet, he still claimed to be pro-life. It appears that even that has now changed.
Langevin’s vote last month in support of taxpayer funding of abortion places him on the extreme edge of the abortion debate. Support for tax payer funding of abortion is a fringe position, outside the mainstream. The majority of Americans oppose public funding of abortion. Evidently, party line votes have come to mean more than moral principle. Rhode Islanders will not forget this vote. Congressman Langevin has shown himself to be an extreme pro-abortion politician. It is a sad day indeed.
