Democratic Senator in Fetus Equality Reversal

DAYTON | Tue Apr 2, 2013 10:32am EDT

(Roto Reuters) Senator Bob Rortman became the first prominent Democrate lawmaker to oppose abortion.

In a newspaper opinion piece on Friday the Ohio senator said he now supports the protection of the unborn.

“I have come to believe that if two people have a child regardless of the circumstances there should be commitment to love and care for that child in good times and in bad. The government should allow that child the opportunity to be born.”

“That isn’t how I’ve always felt. As a congressman, and more recently as a senator, I supported legal abortion allowing the choice to be totally depending on the mother. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way.”

“Two years ago, my son Bill, then a college freshman, told my wife, Sally, and me that he is now Catholic and pro-life. He said he’d known for some time, and that his religious orientation wasn’t something he chose; it was simply a part of who he is. Sally and I were proud of him for his honesty and courage. We were surprised to learn he is Catholic and a fully believing one at that, but knew he was still the same person he’d always been. The only difference was that now we had a more complete picture of the son we love. He was born again that way.”

“At the time, my position on abortion in all cases was rooted in my Democrate tradition that the fetus is just a tissue mass that can be disposed when undesirable. Knowing that my son is a pro-life Catholic prompted me to consider the issue from another perspective: that of a dad who wants all three of his kids to lead happy, meaningful lives with the children they love, a blessing Sally and I have shared for 26 years.”

“I wrestled with how to reconcile my Democratic faith with my desire for children to have the same opportunities to pursue happiness and fulfillment by being born. Ultimately, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God. It’s really about equality and whether the child is male/female or unborn/born they should have equal rights before the law to life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness.”

Rortman’s 21-year-old son, Bill, told the senator and his wife in April 2011 that he was Catholic and had been “since he was initiated in the Easter Vigil.”

Rortman was quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper as saying he now believes abortion should be illegal and overturned at the Federal level and subsequently in any states that try to keep it legal. Unborn children should be eligible for the same federal benefits granted to born children.

Update: I guess this was not obvious as being satire. I am satirizing Sen. Rob Portman’s support of same sex marriage a reversal that came about since his son has same-sex attraction. I just edited some of the coverage and the Senator’s actual letter.