U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale, will be getting some financial backing from the National Republican Congressional Committee for his reelection campaign. West is among a handful of freshman Republican congress members believed to be particularly vulnerable in the upcoming election.
Politico reported that the NRCC launched its “Patriot Program” today. The program was described as “a tough-love incumbent protection effort designed to assist freshmen and a few longer-serving lawmakers expected to face difficult paths to reelection.”
West’s seat already received special attention this year from the pro-reproductive rights group Emily’s List. Early this March, the organization put West “on notice.” He was among five other GOP congressmen that fit the group’s criteria of 1) being exceedingly anti-choice and anti-woman for such a short amount of time in office, and 2) in a seat a Democratic woman angling to take.
Emily’s List stated in a press release that West’s voting record in his few short months in the legislature already expressed his antagonism toward reproductive rights. They explained that West voted for “the House Republicans’ budget that’s vehemently anti-woman and anti-family – it would cut funding for prenatal care, completely defund family planning, make it harder for low-income women to afford a college education, and wreak havoc with Social Security and Medicare.”
During his campaign, West was also very clear about his views on abortion rights. His campaign website said:
There are pro-abortion groups that advocate abortion at all costs, even at the expense of the mother. These groups promote abortion as a means of birth control and have developed a multi-million dollar industry out of this culture of death. This is simply unacceptable. And, partial birth abortion is nothing short of an abomination. I believe all future discussion on this issue should move us toward the elimination of abortion except in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Current law is poorly constructed and it is the opinion of many constitutional attorneys that abortion is not a privacy issue, as stated in the Roe v. Wade decision.
According to Politico, West and the other “Patriot Program” members represent districts that President Obama won in 2008, which are likely to be “at the top of the Democratic target list in 2012.”
