Trump endorses Renee Ellmers in North Carolina race, pro-lifers rally behind George Holding
The GOP nominee Donald Trump has made his first endorsement, backing Rep. Renee Ellmers, the North Carolina congresswoman who fought against the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in 2015, angering pro-life groups.
“Boy is she a fighter,” Donald Trump says in a robocall that hit her congressional district over the weekend. “I need her help in Washington so we can work together to defeat ISIS, secure our border, and bring back jobs and frankly so many other things. And Renee knows how to do it. She gets it.”
Ellmers is facing a tough primary challenge from fellow incumbent Rep. George Holding and numerous other pro-life conservatives.
Renee Ellmers
Ellmers was the first member of Congress to endorse his presidential campaign. Many pro-life advocates remember Ellmers’ role in stopping their top U.S. legislative priority less than a year-and-a-half ago when she joined Jackie Walorski of Indiana to raise an objection to the language requiring women to report their rape to the authorities before they could abort babies after 20 weeks.
Their uprising caused the House leadership, which had publicly announced it would vote on the measure the same day as the annual March for Life, to postpone the vote for months. Ellmers defended her actions, saying, “I am appalled by the abhorrent and childish behaviors from some of the leaders of” the right to life movement.
Ellmers campaigned on a pro-life platform and, in 2013, voted for the exact same Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Her statement for opposition was for mere political reasons: “I have urged leadership to reconsider bringing it up next week….We got into trouble last year, and I think we need to be careful again, we need to be smart about how we’re moving forward. The first vote we take, or the second vote or the fifth vote, shouldn’t be on an issue where we know the millennials, social issues just aren’t important [to them].”
“Rep. Renee Ellmers has betrayed the pro-life people of this state and country – and more importantly – she has betrayed the unborn children who die from painful abortions every day,” North Carolina Right to Life.
“I worked to get Renee Ellmers elected and she betrayed people like me once she got into office,” wrote John Hawkins of RightWingNews.com after the endorsement. “I endorse George Holding for her seat.”
The nation’s leading pro-life political organizations, including National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List have opposed Ellmers’ primary campaign, supporting Holding. None of this bodes well for Trump, since many pro-lifers question Trump’s stance “against” abortion.
