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Pro-life doesn’t stop at birth

Jill

Or so says anti-choice politician and GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Sounds promising, right? After all, most other anti-choice politicians really only seem to care about “life” up until the point of birth, and then they’re perfectly happy cutting social service programs, poverty relief programs, educational programs, health care programs, and other things that make it possible for kids to grow up healthy. So perhaps Mike Huckabee is different.

Sadly, no. The article itself — from a “pro-life” website — doesn’t offer a single thing Huckabee has done to help born people, other than his claim that he cares about senior citizens (kinda sad when you have to clarify that point, no?). So what has Huckabee done to show his support of born Americans? Well, he has “signed bills that seek to limit the number of abortions.” Also:

In 2005, Huckabee signed a bill into law that would require abortion facilities to obtain the approval of a parent or legal guardian before an abortion can be scheduled for a teenager.

Huckabee also signed a bill in 2003 authorizing the sale of Choose Life license plates. Twenty-five dollars from the plate proceeds goes to the Choose Life Adoption Assistance Program Fund and are distributed to organizations that help pregnant women and promote adoption such a pregnancy centers or adoption agencies.

The former governor also addressed biotech issues as well.

In March 2003 Huckabee signed a ban on human cloning. Under the Arkansas law, human cloning would be considered a felony, punishable with prison sentences as long as ten years and fines as high as $10,000.

…right. Clearly Huckabee cares about born people so much that he has taken the strong position of allowing them to get tacky political license plates. What a warrior for life.

17 thoughts on Pro-life doesn’t stop at birth

  1. How are these “Choose Life” license plates not unconstitutional? We have them here in Florida too and they make me sick (no, I will not let you over into my lane with a “Choose Life” plate on your car). There is no equivalent for people who are pro-choice. Does anyone know of one? I’d gladly pay the extra fee for the plate if $25 went to say, Planned Parenthood.

  2. license plates for babies! how many low income dental clinics are there in Arkansas? it’s amazing the programs that are overlooked….

  3. Anti-choice activists are pro-pregnancy, not pro-life. Hell, they’re not even pro-birth, as many deny funding for pre-natal treatment for poor mothers.

    Hey, has Feministe done any articles on how pro-pregnancy activists are exploiting the systemic abortion of female fetuses in India to advance their agenda? I am strongly pro-choice, however, on this issue I feel the Indian government needs to do much more to ban such blatant femicide. My pro-choice argument is that women should be able to decide whether or not they want to be a parent, not what type of child they should have. What do you think? I am so worried that these activists will catch us flat-footed and this is a very serious issue in India, threatening social dynamics and the very lives of women and girls for generations to come. The practice is terribly common.

  6. A listing of the popularity of the Florida plates.
    http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/specialtytags/tagsales2005.pdf

    Choose Life is No. 8 (“Stop Child Abuse” was No. 48).

    I did a brief bit of research into this area and apparently when groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood have filed suit against these types of plates the cases have been dismissed on the grounds that they the plaintiffs had no plans to create a plate of their own. Interesting. Maybe this is something we can all begin working on together? A plate where the funds would go to PP and department of children’s services or something?

  7. I’m from Arkansas and he is and he isn’t. His most successful children’s programs (which he supported as gov) were created by the dems in office before him. He talks a good game on kids, but it falls apart pretty quickly on other reproductive issues.

  8. Actions speak louder than words. The phrase that titles this post is overwhelmingly drowned out by the squealing brakes.

  10. BabyGirl: PA has Planned Parenthood plates. I don’t know about other states but when my plates are up next, I’m getting ’em.

  11. Anti-choice? Hah. In the battle of words, you’ve always got to name the opponent “anti” something. Real clever. I’ve got a brilliant idea, use some sort of contraceptive, there’s only a million of them and most of them are cheap and easy to use. Or better yet, stop having sex altogether if you don’t want kids. Brilliant.

  12. We have plates to save the whales, mantees, and all sorts of endangered animals. The only protection for me to have any pro-environment plate I want is that people I disagree with get to have a plate they want. I’m an independent but I think fair is fair. The government shouldn’t choose sides as much as I may want them to.

    As for Huckabee not doing anything for born people, I watched all the debates (democrat and republican). I want to be a completely informed voter when I cast my vote in November. I remember in one of the debates (D-list actor)Fred Thompson gave Huckabee grief about a health care plan for kids. I looked it up. Here’s part of the story.

    [ARKids First is a medical insurance initiative created for families who don’t qualify for Medicaid and can’t afford private insurance. More than 240,000 children in Arkansas are currently enrolled. Huckabee downplayed his role, saying he mainly sold the program to the public and lawmakers. Many others played as big a role as he did, the governor said, including the group’s former director Ami Rossi, whom Huckabee credited with coming up with the original idea for the basic health care plan for poor children.

    “This is the one thing that we have an obligation to give to the future generations of Arkansans,” Huckabee said. “A child sitting out there in the classroom with a headache, a toothache, stomach ache, can’t concentrate, can’t think, can’t learn, can’t fully develop. “Only when we have healthy children can we have the kids who are going to be able to reach their full potential.”

    Since the ARKids First program was implemented eight years ago, the state’s uninsured rate for children has fallen from 19.4 percent to 10 percent. Governor Huckabee described the program as “an example to the rest of the country.”

    During his speech, the governor said he would have qualified for ARKids First while growing up in Hope in southwest Arkansas. His father was a fireman and his mother a clerk and his family had no medical insurance, he said.]

    I wish more republicans would stick their necks out to help kids, but we should give them credit when they do, even if we don’t end up voting for them. Huckabee was just in Rwanda. I cannot imagine that would get him any votes. Maybe he is looking to 2012, when he will be running against Prez Obama. My only point is that he is different. Let’s give him some credit.

  13. Planned parenthood is fine and is not in conflict with Choose Life. A woman has the right to have sex and use birthcontrol. However, if a woman makes a CHOICE to have unprotected sex and becomes pregnant she does NOT have a right to MURDER an innocent baby because of her lack of responsibility. The right then belongs to the innocent baby. Our society has become a me, me society where everyone is so selfish they convince themselves that murder of babies is ok. This is a breakdown of society that needs to end. Do you realize how many women have had multiple abortions? The figures are astounding! The reason for this is that women are careless because they believe that the human lives are just expendable. Those of us who believe murder is wrong have the right to freedom of speech. If you are so angry over what we are saying, maybe there is just a little bit of guilt there….

  14. Oh, and Governor Huckabee has done MUCH to help people after birth. Arkids in Arkansas was a health care plan he put in place so poor kids under 18 could have health care. He flew thousands of Katrina victims into Arkansas and put them up with food and shelter, has worked hard to better the education system and get schlorships for kids. This artilce was written without doing any research into Governor Huckabee and does him a great disservice….

  15. Huckabee has actually done a TON for born people.

    1) Arkansas education system went from #49 to #8 nationally under his leadership.

    2) He led the effort to bring ARKids…a health care program for all the kids of Arkansas.

    3) He cleaned up the park system in the state so now it is a great state to fish, hike, etc in. People now get to see the outdoors and that is very healthy for people.

    4) Huckabee also spent the last week in Rwanda with the ONE campaign…go look it up.

    I’m sure there are lots of people to hit for not being consistent in their actions…I really doubt Huckabee is one of those people.

  16. Linda is right, the writer of this blog did absolutely no research. Or else was lying. Huckabee is dismissed by the right wing as a bleeding heart for a reason.

  17. People like you give blogging a bad name. Ever heard of research? It sounds like you just read ONE ARTICLE and came to your conclusion without looking anywhere else. Pathetic.

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