By David E. Smith and Laurie Higgins:
Despite receiving hundreds of emails, faxes and phone calls from his constituents, Mark Kirk, the junior U.S. Senator (R) from Illinois, failed to uphold religious liberty and freedom of conscience. Instead, Sen. Kirk voted with the Democrats in favor of radical legislation that would undo the protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)–the very law that the Court used to rule in favor of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties. U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mark Udall (D-CO) were the chief sponsors of this ominous legislation.
Republican U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Susan Collins from Maine also joined the Democrats in voting to overturn RFRA .
In the end, the so-called “Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act” was defeated 56-43 on a procedural vote. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who voted against the bill so that he can revive it later, said the Senate would vote again on the issue before year’s end.”
This is not the first time that Sen. Kirk has acted against the interest of people of faith. Late last year he confirmed the concerns of many conservatives when he abruptly canceled his hosting of a symposium by The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society (based in Rockford) at the Senate’s Dirksen Building after hearing complaints from gay and pro-gay rights groups. The reservation was set months in advance.
Sen. Kirk’s record on life issues is also reprehensible. He supports the freedom of women to kill their preborn babies. He supports experimenting on human embryos. He supports federal subsidization of Planned Parenthood.
He opposes bans on partial-birth abortions. He opposes laws that make it a crime to harm a preborn baby during the commission of a crime. He opposes bans on interstate transport of minors seeking abortions. He opposes government funding of health care providers that don’t provide abortion information.
Sen. Kirk voted with Democrats in the U.S. Senate to pass the onerous Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which if passed in the House would prevent employers from taking into account the volitional and public sexual choices of potential employees. So, Sen. Kirk seeks to prohibit employers from choosing not to hire cross-dressers.
Sen. Kirk was a co-sponsor of the “Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,” which in reality is a law that addresses not acts but thoughts.
Read more: Illinois Family Action
