Burnt Orange Report

Gammage Criticized For Congressional Voting Record on Abortion

By Vince Leibowitz

[Author's Note: Evidently Jim and I were typing our posts on this topic at the same time, though my post has a much later time stamp. Of course, his was longer. Anyway, I didn't see it when I read the blog before I posted, so sorry, Jim, for stealing your thunder.]

In the first major controversy of the Democratic Primary race for governor, the Austin American Statesman reports that the Chris Bell campaign is circulating a letter criticizing Gammage for his voting record on abortion in Congress.

The letter is signed by a dozen abortion-rights activists including the formitible Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who argued Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court as well as Peggy Romberg, executive director of the Women's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas; and Heather Paffe, political director of the Texas Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

According to the Statesman, Bell aides said the women signed the letter as individuals and not on behalf of their groups.

The Statesman notes:

It does not point to specific votes, but Bell's campaign charged that Gammage voted repeatedly in 1977 against allowing federal funds to pay for abortions in cases of rape or incest or when it was deemed "medically necessary."

Gammage spokesman Jeremy Warren responded that Gammage "is pro-choice and has been for decades."

"The issue that they're discussing is not a woman's right to choose but whether the taxpayers should be paying for that," he said. "At the time it was a new issue and it was very controversial, and Bob Gammage voted with Al Gore, Dick Gephardt and a lot of other Democrats."

Warren said Gammage now believes that taxpayer dollars should be allowed to pay for abortions deemed medically necessary or in cases of rape or incest.

Given that the 95th Congress, in which Gammage served, was a couple decades ago, it's not surprising no one is able to cite any votes. The Congressional Record isn't avaliable online for that period. However, 1978 was the year the Department of Health, Education and Welfare announced it would finance abortions for indigent rape and incest victims if such incidents were reported to law enforcement within 60 days. Personally, I Googled everything I could think of to try to find the voting records of the 95th and just couldn't find anything of substance relating to the type of votes in question.

However, I did find an interesting tidbit via a Google search for "abortion" and "95th Congress" via AFF, which I thought was worth a snip here:

"A generation or two ago, the Republicans were the pro-choice party and the Democrats were considered the pro-life party," notes syndicated columnist Mark Shields, a pro-life liberal. Planned Parenthood was a favorite charity of George H.W. Bush, he observes--one indication of the sea change in opinion that happened over the last few decades.

To many Democrats, the pro-life position once seemed a natural fit with the party's self-image as champion of the underdog. In the 95th Congress (1977-78), the Democrats had a 292-seat majority that included 125 pro-life Democrats. In 1976, then-candidate Jimmy Carter opposed public funding for abortions. Emerging leaders like Dick Gephardt, Al Gore, and Jesse Jackson Sr. were all originally pro-life.