There will be a GOP presidential candidate pro-life event in Greenville, S.C., this Wednesday and once again Mitt Romney will be absent. Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich will all attend.
Mitt Romney declined the invitation. The event is sponsored by Personhood USA. More details below.
Some analysis on Romney's decision: If he is 100 percent pro-life, why not show up for an event like this? What is he afraid of exactly? I understand that he’s concerned that candidates and folks in the audience will probably attack his past support for abortion rights but he’s changed now right? That’s what he keeps saying so you would think he would go to an event like this to prove it and shut everybody up. Wouldn’t he be proud of the fact that he went from pro-choice to pro-life? Isn’t that something to shout from the rooftops as a conservative?
Instead, he ditches the event. This isn’t the first time he’s ducked a pro-life event and it won’t be the last. Romney may say he’s pro-life but until he starts showing up at these events, the skepticism will always be there. And it’s entirely understandable from an evangelical standpoint.
By the way, believe it or not evangelicals can actually walk and chew gum at the same time. They can be pro-life and be fiscal conservatives. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Details of the event:
Following the success of the first-ever Presidential Prolife Tele-Town Hall on December 27th, Personhood USA has answered the public demand for a longer forum with more questions to the candidates, live and in-person on January 18th.
“In the past, abortion has been relegated as a side-issue, but no longer,” explained Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA. “Voters are dissatisfied with liberal Republican candidates who are prolife in word, but not in deed. We have already seen a tremendous outspokenness on the Sanctity of Life from these four candidates. Now voters are eager to ask serious questions about each candidate’s prolife position. Over 50 million innocent children have been killed by abortion since 1973, and we want a President who will not sit by and watch the death toll climb.”
The event will be held on January 18, 2012, at 6:45pm, at the Hilton Hotel in Greenville, South Carolina. The Prolife Forum will be organized as a town hall meeting, with questions for the candidates posed by South Carolina voters. Personhood USA is currently accepting registrations