Pro-life advocates in California have been fighting against our state’s abortion ideology for decades, but over the past few years I have been astonished by the extremely radical, anti-life efforts of California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra. His voting record in Congress and subsequent actions as Attorney General reveal his headstrong, abortion-on-demand agenda, regardless of its legality or morality.
Before becoming Attorney General in California, Becerra had a disturbingly radical pro-abortion record as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He voted against both the Partial-Birth Abortion Act and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, demonstrating a sickening disregard for violence against innocent infants, both in the womb and those born alive after a botched abortion. He voted to expand experimentation on human fetal cells and then against redirecting that funding to more ethical research which avoids fetal cells. Just a few years before stepping into his role as California Attorney General, Becerra voted against the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act, which would have punished those who knowingly performed an abortion because of the race or sex of the child.
Once he became Attorney General, Becerra abused his position of power and used every opportunity to attempt to crush pro-life efforts and remove any limitations on abortion in California. In 2017, Becerra pursued 15 felony charges against David Daleiden and his fellow undercover journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s practice of selling fetal body parts, completely ignoring the baby part salesmen’s own criminal culpability. Even left-wing news outlets like Mother Jones and the Los Angeles Times were chilled by Becerra’s partisan overreach and negligence of what should have been a serious investigation into Planned Parenthood.
Becerra has no regard for the free speech of pro-life advocates. In 2018, Becerra vigorously defended California’s dangerous AB 775 which forced our state’s 162 pro-life pregnancy centers to promote abortion to their clients. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court slapped down Becerra with a 5-4 ruling that he finally relented.
But his legal defeat did not diminish his zeal for abortion. Becerra defended another California law requiring insurance plans provided by religious organizations to cover abortion. The Department of Health and Human Services ruled in 2020 that this law violated the Weldon Amendment, which stipulates that states and localities mandating full abortion coverage for all health plans are not eligible for federal funding. Becerra refused to comply, threatening the loss of $200 million in Medicaid funds. His pro-abortion obstinance cannot reasonably be defended as a qualification for heading the very organization which rebuked him.
Given Becerra’s gross attitude toward life in the womb and reckless disregard of laws that protect the unborn, he is not qualified to head any federal agency, especially not the Department of Health and Human Services.
California’s politicians have an incredible amount of influence over national politics right now. Californians need to recognize this and demand that these leaders begin to appropriately fight for the protection of all constitutional rights, including the rights to life, free speech, and religious liberty.
Every effort counts. Please contact your U.S. Senators and engage in every effort to defend basic human rights in the state of California.
Xavier Becerra’s first nomination hearing was held on Tuesday, February 23.
