Catholic Vs. Clinton
But Spencer is a Catholic who doesn’t try to downplay his opposition to abortion and same-sex “marriage.”
“John Spencer takes the ideal,
conservative positions on family and morals,” said pro-life activist
Christopher Slattery, of
But Spencer is a relatively unknown political figure. “It would take a miracle for him to win,” Slattery said.
In the race, the former First Lady has completely avoided all controversial subjects. Spencer has directly spoken about all values issues.
“Hillary Clinton has always been given a pass by the media,” said Spencer. “If she doesn’t answer the question, no one comes after her.”
But there are many questions that
Catholic voters have — not all of which can be answered by
“I strongly believe that every child should be wanted, cherished and loved. For more than a decade I have worked to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, especially teen pregnancies, and to promote policies with the goal of making abortion safe, legal and rare.”
This does not specify that
Her offices did not respond to questions in time for this article.
“She talks a great game about reducing abortions,” Slattery said. “But that is code for increasing the availability of contraception. This policy has been a complete failure.”
In fact,
“I don’t believe that spreading
the ‘morning-after’ pill will reduce abortions,” said Slattery. “In
Spencer — known for his tax
cutting and improvement of services in
“Having been adopted and raised by a loving family, I do not believe in abortion,” said Spencer. “I think we should get back to being a culture of life.”
Spencer has been a personal contributor to local crisis pregnancy centers. When the National Abortion Federation tried to regulate how crisis pregnancy centers advertise themselves with the “Stop Deceptive Advertising in Women’s Services” Act, H.R. 5052, in March, Spencer immediately held a press conference with a local crisis pregnancy center.
“As mayor of
Some Catholics may have qualms about voting for Spencer, who had an affair with his secretary and is remarried without an annulment. But not Slattery.
“I don’t want to be perceived as a person who is indifferent to infidelity,” said Slattery, “but I don’t necessarily think it means he would be a bad leader.”
“I’m Catholic and I’m divorced,” Spencer said. “I’m not perfect but I try. I still go to church on Sunday, but I don’t receive Communion.”
Barbara Meara, director of the New York State Right to Life Political Action Committee, said her organization has given Spencer its full endorsement.
“He rejects embryonic stem-cell
research. He’s for parental notification. He’s against partial-birth abortion.
He would try to reduce the funding that abortion gets in
Spencer is also plain-spoken about his belief that marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman. This is an area where Clinton, much to the annoyance of her supporters, has not been clear.
She did, however, oppose the
Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Her reasoning was that
this was an issue best left to the states, and that the Constitution should not
be amended to deny a “right.” Same-sex “marriage” advocates have been angered
by
Alan Van Capelle,
executive director of the homosexual group Empire State Pride Agenda, called
her a “complete disappointment” who “does not deserve
an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) fund-raiser.” The story was
reported in the March 24, 2006 edition of the
On immigration, Spencer would like to see a more orderly process.
“We should be a nation of laws,”
he said. “Illegal people don’t live as citizens do. I know this as the former
mayor of
Sabrina Arena Ferrisi writes from
- Keywords:
- October 29-November 4, 2006