Power

Louisiana Senate Runoff Race Features Dueling Anti-Choice Candidates (Updated)

Louisiana's Democratic candidate, Foster Campbell, is opposed to abortion rights, as is his Republican challenger, John Kennedy.

Anti-choice groups view Louisiana's Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Foster Campbell favorably. An analysis by Louisiana Right to Life (LRTL) shows that Campbell voted with the group 82 percent of the time between 1990 and 2002 while holding statewide office. Foster Campbell for US Senate / YouTube

UPDATE: December 12, 9:55 a.m.: Republican John Kennedy was projected as the winner of the U.S. Senate race in Louisiana, “filling the nation’s last Senate seat and giving the GOP a 52-48 edge in the chamber when the new term begins in January,” the Associated Press reported Saturday.

Louisiana’s upcoming runoff election may play a critical role in giving Democrats in the U.S. Senate a firewall to help stop a GOP-held Congress determined to roll back the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and nominate conservative justices to the Supreme Court, among other things.

Democrats have already said the party will step up attempts to block Trump administration efforts to push through harmful restrictions on reproductive rights and health. “Democrats will be completely unified under the Senate in beating back any attempts to curtail reproductive rights,” a Senate Democratic leadership aide told Rewire in an email in the aftermath of the election. “It’s an issue that binds our caucus together.”

But Louisiana’s Democratic candidate, Foster Campbell, is opposed to abortion rights, as is his Republican challenger.

Campbell’s platform includes vows to fight “for the ultimate voice-less constituency, inmates and their families,” to work to improve the ACA, to address the needs of those with disabilities, and to increase the minimum wage, among other goals. His website’s “issues” page on women says “he’ll be a powerful voice for women and their families,” and encompasses promises to address the gender pay gap, to work for paid family leave, and to support domestic violence survivors.

But though Campbell’s website says he supports “advancing science based policies” when it comes to the environment, evidently that position ends as soon as it comes to reproductive rights and health. His site does not mention his stance on the matter—but his record speaks for itself.

Anti-choice groups view Campbell favorably. An analysis by Louisiana Right to Life (LRTL) shows that Campbell voted with the group 82 percent of the time between 1990 and 2002 while in the state senate. LRTL found that in the two votes in which he did vote against their preferred position, he did so because of measures that excluded exceptions for rape and incest. 

He voted in favor of anti-choice measures in 11 instances, including a so-called partial-birth abortion ban—a law based on inflammatory and nonmedical anti-choice rhetoric—as well as a 1999 “Abortion Facilities Regulations Act” that sought to regulate abortion providers.

Democrats for Life of America (DFLA), which seeks to elect anti-choice Democrats to office, features Campbell on its website. When the group endorsed him in mid-October, its president, Janet Rogers, said the group was “impressed with Foster Campbell’s voting record protecting the sanctity of life during his years in the Louisiana State Senate, as well as his consistent life ethic throughout his career.”

When asked about his priorities for nominating a Supreme Court justice during an October Louisiana U.S. Senate debate, Campbell didn’t skip a beat when pointing to a potential justice’s opposition to abortion as key to winning his vote. “First of all, I told you I was pro-life, so I certainly want to vote for a chief justice or a Supreme Court justice who is pro-life,” said Campbell. “That is one of my main considerations.”

Earlier in the debate when asked by Rep. John Fleming (R), then another contender, about his stance on the Second Amendment and a previous statement that it is “‘cold and callous” not to have taxpayer funding of abortions, Campbell clarified his values.

“I am pro-Second Amendment, and I am pro-life,” Campbell replied at the debate. “I am pro-life and I am pro-guns, that’s pure and simple.”

As Fleming noted, Campbell has previously spoken out against a restriction on funding for abortion care—but it was more than 25 years ago in 1990. An article published that year by the Associated Press reported that Campbell had criticized a rival candidate for going too far in his opposition to abortion, despite having himself supported measures to ban abortions.

During a debate between the two candidates, Campbell called his opponent’s vote against allowing federal funding for abortion “cold and callous.”

“If a poor woman was raped, you are saying she should not be able to have an abortion if she can’t afford one even if she’s a victim of rape,” Campbell reportedly said at the time. “I have two daughters. I don’t want the government coming into my living room making decisions about them.”

The next year, while serving in the Louisiana State Senate, Campbell voted to override then-Gov. Buddy Roemer’s veto of legislation that outlawed abortion and was described by the Associated Press as a bill “that would jail doctors who perform the procedure” and force rape survivors to report their attacks within one week if they wanted an abortion. When asked about his vote, Campbell said that though he had previously voted to uphold the veto and saw some issues with the legislation, “it’s more right than wrong and I’ve got to vote to override.”

According to a 1991 report from the Los Angeles Times on the legislation, Campbell had tried to add a number of amendments to the bill that would have broadened the scope of those who could qualify for an abortion, including women known to be carrying the HIV virus.” These amendments all failed to pass, and Campbell ultimately voted for the measure anyway, said the report. The law was eventually struck down by a federal appeals court, and the Supreme Court later declined to take up the State of Louisiana’s appeal in 1993.

Rival Senate candidate State Treasurer John Kennedy supports the full repeal of the ACA. As state treasurer, he has no voting record to analyze, but his answers to a survey from the LRTL and its national office, National Right to Life, earned him a 100 percent rating from the groups. A search of his website turns up no mention of abortion, though his 2004 campaign site from his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate that year says he is “Pro-Life with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”

A 2016 questionnaire filled out by Kennedy’s campaign for the Louisiana Family Forum, an anti-choice organization, said the Republican opposes abortion with no exceptions for cases of rape and incest. He also opposes federal funding for Planned Parenthood; anti-discrimination legislation on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression; and marriage equality. In addition, he supports conscience clauses for “protecting individuals and businesses from being required to provide services or use their artistic expression in a manner that violates their moral or religious beliefs.”

Though Campbell filled out the same questionnaire, he didn’t include answers on those questions. His form says he included answers in an attachment, but Louisiana Family Forum did not post them. He also did not fill out the LRTL survey to clarify his positions on abortion rights.

In September, as Congress feuded on whether to commit funding to Zika after a GOP-engineered bill on the matter included contraception restrictions, Kennedy “said he believes that Democrats are trying to use the Zika virus as a way to direct more clients—and thus more federal money—to Planned Parenthood, something he said he opposed,” according to a report from local news outlet the Daily Comet.

Campbell said at the time that approving Zika funding was a “pro-life issue” and that he didn’t “think Congress should hold Zika hostage.”

Campbell is currently polling behind Kennedy. According to a November 9 article by the Acadiana Advocate, Kennedy headed into the race after having secured 25 percent of the vote, while Campbell trailed with 17 percent.

But it would seem that no matter who wins the seat, another anti-choice vote will be added to the Senate.