My next entry in this series discussing my list of non-partisan reasons to vote out Rick Scott concerns the issue of abortion, and will be short. Some who have read my comments will be aware that I would be classed as pro-life. But I also acknowledge as legitimate the criticism of pro-choice position-holders, that many pro-life advocates only seem to care about life when it is inside the womb, and after that, you're on your own! Nevertheless, Scott's record in this regard should be disturbing to you no matter which side you're on.
I'd say Rick Scott is an example of that, but in fact, he is even worse. Rick Scott
claims to be pro-life, but his actions show that he is only “pro-life” to the
extent that it helps him gain votes. He did sign some pro-life legislation into
law, including in this latest session, but his actions speak louder than a mere swipe of a pen, and show that he
is a hypocrite on this issue.
Scott is using and manipulating the pro-life movement for votes. The pro-life movement is undermining its credibility by supporting him. In biological terms, this would be called an unhealthy symbiotic relationship.
From a non-partisan standpoint, objections from
this category are:
81) Rick Scott, as head of HCA’s
hospital chain, profited from abortions.
Scott has
not denied that HCA provided abortions under his tenure, but has claimed that
his company was “subject to” what was set up by medical staff beforehand. This
is nonsense. Rick Scott was the owner and boss and it was within his authority
to “knock down” anything that had been “set up.” No law requires private
hospitals to provide abortions. But even if this were not the case, he could
have spoken up as an alleged pro-life advocate to have abortions removed as one
of HCA’s services. He did not.
82) Rick Scott falsely used a tragic
example of a family’s suffering to pose himself as pro-life.
On the
campaign trail, Scott alluded to a situation in Texas which allegedly showed he
was committed to pro-life causes. The case was that of Mark and Karla Miller,
and it had nothing to do with pro-life issues, and did not involve abortion
specifically. Scott used this family’s tragedy for political gain, and did so
even though his own involvement in the situation was marginal at best.
83) Rick Scott misrepresented the
pro-life credentials of Bill McCollum.
During the
governor’s campaign, Scott’s campaign ran an ad claiming that McCollum had
accepted money from lobbyists for Planned Parenthood, a chief abortion
supporter. This is not only false in terms of details, it also ignored
McCollum’s rating of “zero” from Planned Parenthood, as a staunch pro-lifer.
In reality,
the donation came from a lobbyist organization that had, at one time,
represented Planned Parenthood – as well as pro-life candidates. But that donation
also came at a time when the lobbyist company wasn’t representing Planned
Parenthood.
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