Cisneros calls out Cuellar as the last anti-abortion Democrat in the House
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Jessica Cisneros, a candidate in the May 24 runoff for a Texas House seat, is asking Democratic leadership to put their principles in action and withdraw their support for incumbent Henry Cuellar, the last forced birther in the House Democratic caucus.
“As the Supreme Court prepares to overturn Roe v. Wade, I am calling on Democratic Party leadership to withdraw their support of Henry Cuellar who is the last anti-choice Democrat in the House,” Cisneros said. “At every turn, my Congressman has stood in opposition to the Democratic Party agenda from being anti-union to being anti-choice. With the House majority on the line, he could very much be the deciding vote on the future of our reproductive rights and we cannot afford to take that risk.”
Support a fantastic progressive and give the last anti-choice House Dem the boot!
“On May 24th, we will defeat the last anti-choice Democrat and South Texas will finally have a representative in their corner that will fight for their health care and freedom,” she continued. “I hope Democratic Party leadership won’t stand in the way of delivering for South Texans. I am ready to work with them to deliver on the Democratic agenda.”
Majority Whip James Clyburn is scheduled to campaign with Cuellar Wednesday night. Clyburn tweeted his condemnation of the Supreme Court Tuesday, after the extremists judges’ draft decision to overturn federally protected abortion rights was leaked. “For 49 years, women have had the constitutional right to make choices about their body,” Clyburn said. “The whole notion of politicians controlling those decisions is beyond the pale. It ought to be alarming to us.” He added “We must fight to reclaim rights that have been lost and defend rights that are in danger.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the leaked decision “monstrous,” and “a sweeping and severe restriction of Americans’ rights.” She added that “by striking down Roe v. Wade, the Court would pave the way for Republicans to obliterate even more of our freedoms.” So, yes, that position is hard to square with her support for Cuellar, the only Democrat to vote against the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation codifying federal abortion rights.
Cuellar has been a staunch opponent of abortion rights for his entire career, joining with Republicans on every messaging bill restricting abortion they’ve put forward, including the odious and misleading “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” a propaganda effort boosting Donald Trump’s lie that doctors were killing full-term babies at delivery. He was also the only Democrat to break ranks and vote with Republicans in favor of the discriminatory Hyde Amendment during this Congress.
Knowing just how disastrous his opposition to abortion rights could be for his political future with the Supreme Court’s leaked decision dominating headlines, Cuellar issued a cautious statement, trying to thread the needle between his forced birth position and his betrayal of his party. He focused on his religion. “As a lifelong Catholic, I have always been pro-life,” he said. “As a Catholic, I do not support abortion, however we cannot have an outright ban. There must be exceptions in the case of rape, incest, and danger to the life of the mother.”
That’s a big contradiction of his support for the so-called “born alive” bill, and his assertion in this statement that “my faith does not allow me to support extreme positions such as late term or partial birth abortions.” He’s pretending to take a middle ground here, adopting the forced birther canard that abortions occurring late in a pregnancy are anything other than life-saving.
Cuellar is clearly far out of the mainstream of Democrats on this issue. With so much at stake right now and in the face of such a clear and immediate threat, Democrats are going to need every vote they can muster in Congress to protect abortion rights. They’re not going to get it from Cuellar. Protecting and supporting an incumbent is one thing. Betraying half the population is entirely another.