Gov. Bruce Rauner's new communications specialist has garnered widespread criticism following recent comments about abortion, and now anti-abortion groups are weighing in on the controversy.
In a post published in April on "Reclaiming Feminism," a conservative blog, Brittany Carl wrote that abortion has been adopted as a means to eliminate "unwanted" people.
“Certainly nothing matches the atrocity of the Holocaust, but it’s undeniable that abortion is being used to rid the world of disabled and other ‘unwanted’ persons -- a fact the Left and their pro-abortion allies don’t want discussed,” Carl wrote.
Chicago City Wire reached out to Eric J. Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, to get his take on the matter.
Q: Should Gov. Rauner, who is pro-choice, have a litmus test whereby he hires only pro-choice staffers?
A: Gov. Rauner absolutely should not have a litmus test for hires requiring them all to be pro-choice. That he does not is a testament to his open-mindedness and willingness to consider differing views on controversial issues. Indeed, it would be difficult for him to hire only pro-choice staffers, given how widespread support for the right to life of unborn children is among Republicans.
Q: Are you happy he has pro-life staffers and allows a diversity of opinion on abortion in his administration?
A: I'm gratified that Gov. Rauner allows diversity of opinion on his staff. This is not only the right thing to do, it's politically wise of him, given that he could not have won his office without the votes of pro-life Illinoisans -- including even pro-life Democrats not willing to vote for Pat Quinn, a far stronger advocate for abortion than Bruce Rauner.
Q: Critics of Brittany Carl are effectively saying they support abortions of disabled persons, and that Carl should resign for defending babies with Down syndrome. What is your reaction to this?
A: Brittany Carl is right to shed light on the horrific practice of aborting children who have disabilities like Down syndrome. If you've ever met someone with Downs, you immediately recognize a tremendous joy for life. They aren't being aborted because their lives will be unhappy but because their special needs will be a burden to others.
We have worked so hard to accommodate the needs of disabled people in our society, and yet we contradict all those good intentions when we decide that disabled people can be killed as long as they are as yet unborn.
I applaud Carl for addressing this issue on her blog. But let's be clear: She was not saying that women who get abortions or the practitioners who provide them are Nazis, or anything like that. In fact, she was quite clear that the Nazi holocaust is a singular evil in human history. She was merely pointing out that those who advocate for killing disabled people in the womb are advocating a position that we all recognize as inhuman in the case of Nazi Germany, by way of inspiring serious reflection on this injustice.
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