By Mary Anne Buchanan, West Virginians for Life Communications Director
Pro-lifers can be proud of West Virginia. The majority of voters did the right thing. According to the statistics, all 55 counties went for Mitt Romney. Nationally, however, pro-abortion President Obama was reelected to a second term.
Of the federal candidates endorsed by the West Virginians for Life Political Action Committee (WVL PAC), 60% won their races, including David McKinley for 1st Congressional District and Shelley Moore Capito for 2nd Congressional District. Senator Joe Manchin held off John Raese. Pro-life Delegate Rick Snuffer lost by eight percentage points to long-time incumbent Nick Rahall in the 3rd Congressional District.
Among statewide races, WVL PAC enjoyed a 71% success rate. Most notably, two very tight races included winners Allen Loughry for Supreme Court and Patrick Morrisey for Attorney General. Loughry’s win allowing for the delicate 3-2 pro-life majority to be maintained on the West Virginia Supreme Court, should prevent pro-life legislation from being overturned. Morrisey’s election, meanwhile, ensures that pro-life legislation will be vigorously defended in the courts if challenged by radical pro-abortion groups. He will challenge rationing of medical care and unconstitutional mandates.
Due to the 92% success rate in the West Virginia Senate, it remains largely pro-life. Of the seventeen districts, WVL PAC endorsed in fourteen of them. The only loss was in District 16 where pro-life candidate James Ruland lost to incumbent Senator Herb Snyder.
And finally, the WVL PAC can report a 74% winning percentage in the House of Delegates. The PAC endorsed in 63 of 67 districts. Losses occurred in only eleven of those 63 districts, but three of those winners are pro-life, and possibly more.
Wanda Franz, Ph.D., President of West Virginians for Life PAC, said, “Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion and anti-life president in the history of our country. It is sad that a majority of voters have returned him to office in spite of his anti-life record. Americans are truly at risk. We in the pro-life movement must re-double our efforts to protect the victims of abortion, to stop taxpayer funding of abortion, and to protect our sick and elderly from the dangers of Obamacare.”
West Virginians for Life, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, is the state’s largest pro-life group with more than 35 local chapters. West Virginians for Life works through legislation, education, and political action to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia.