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| photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr |
The vote was mostly along party lines, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) being the only Republican to support Becerra's nomination. Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono (D) did not vote. Self-proclaimed pro-life Democrats Joe Manchin (WV) and Bob Casey (PA) joined the rest of their party in support of Becerra.
“Xavier Becerra has no health care experience but plenty of abortion advocacy and he is being rewarded by the Biden administration for that extremism,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.
“The nation needs a Secretary with the public health experience necessary to help put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Tobias. “Becerra’s confirmation looks more and more like a deal with abortion groups to confirm an activist because Xavier Becerra brings no healthcare experience to the position but plenty of abortion advocacy.”
During his time as California's Attorney General, Becerra defended California's Reproductive FACT Act (which required pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise where free or low-cost abortions were available), sued the Trump administration to take conscience protections away from organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor, and prosecuted pro-life undercover journalists for exposing Planned Parenthood's practice of selling body parts harvested from aborted babies. His cases regarding the Reproductive FACT Act and conscience protections failed at the Supreme Court, but they made his position on the issue of abortion well-known.
Becerra also led numerous efforts by state Attorneys General to oppose other states' pro-life laws in federal court and had a 100% voting record with the pro-abortion lobby while he was a California state senator.
