(LifeSiteNews) – Anytime the speaker doesn’t accept questions, it is a good bet there is some explaining to do, and remarks have been planned carefully. This appeared to be the case on January 20 when Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) spoke at Calvin College, where her husband is on the faculty.
Scholten is the first Democrat to represent Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District in decades. Granted, Scholten had the advantage of a newly drawn district favoring Democrats, but she took no chances during the campaign and presented herself to voters as a “moderate,” using her Christian faith to explain some radical positions, especially on abortion.
One might assume her first week in Congress, Scholten would tread lightly, but that was not to be. In the same vein as her predecessor, Rep. Peter Meijer – who was defeated in the Republican primary for voting to impeach Trump – Scholten seemed eager as well to demonstrate her independence. (Why do these rogue actions always seem to benefit Democrats?)
After standing on the steps of the Capitol on January 6 with her fellow Democrats, trying again to convince Americans the protesters and trespassers that day two years ago were trying to overthrow the government, Scholten’s next act was to give a thumbs-down on two bills very close to the heart of the devout people in her district and the legions who care about protecting the unborn.
No to abortion survivors
First, Scholten voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would mandate medical attention for babies who are born alive after an abortion.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) referenced the cold-blooded comments in 2019 from Virginia’s then-Gov. Ralph Northam, when he described a baby who might survive a late-term abortion.
‘The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Jordan quoted from Northam.
Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez were the only two Democrats who did not vote against the bill protecting abortion survivors. Perhaps Scholten felt she won by a large enough margin in November there was no need to join them.
Instead, Scholten joined the likes of her fellow Democrats. Rep. Mary Scanlon (D-PA) and called the GOP’s bill “a grotesque attempt to politicize abortion care [sic] and criminalize doctors.” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said the bill would “directly interfere with the doctors’ medical judgment…”
Scholten chimed in herself taking to the House floor to quote the Bible. Using the passage often quoted by pro-lifers, Jeremiah 1:5, “I knew you before I formed you and I placed you in your mother’s womb.”
Interestingly, the verse Scholten quoted includes the word “mother,” but in any case, she used the passage to make a political point. “It doesn’t say the government’s womb or the speaker’s womb,” she stated.
Is she suggesting that God leaves it up to “mothers” to decide whether their babies should live or die and politically, that the government does not have a public interest in protecting all life? Scholten is a lawyer and a Christian. Certainly, she must be familiar with the U.S. Constitution, case law, and the Sixth Commandment, “thou shalt not kill.”
No to churches, pregnancy centers
Scholten also voted against protecting pregnancy help centers and churches, which are now facing a wave of violence after the Dobb’s decision. Scholten’s district is full of churches and places trying to help women with unplanned pregnancies. The bill would have been a unified call by Congress to condemn that violence and vandalism. Every Democrat but one voted against the measure, and it wasn’t Scholten.
At Calvin College, Scholten tried the verbal jiujitsu again to explain her anti-life votes as a Christian. “As a free nation, we don’t want other people’s religion inhibiting our free exercise, thereof.”
So, if “free exercise” of religion includes murder, we shouldn’t stop it?
Scholten moved on to the “when life begins” argument, where she stumbled even more.
“…when we look at, the, the, for example, the, you know, the abortion example and the sacredness of life, there are areas in which we would say, you know, as Reformed Christians, here we have a clear policy, that uh, we could make a blanket rule and where we would outlaw all abortion, but that would require a consensus on what scripture says about exactly where life begins and preclude any decision or faith.”
Is she suggesting because Scripture writers didn’t have access to modern science to know that at conception, a whole, distinct, living human being comes into existence, we should interpret this as the Bible being agnostic on the matter?
Scholten is a public servant and coming under attack for wrong positions goes with the turf. Christians may be inclined to call her a hypocrite, but given her continued references to faith to defend her views on abortion, one might assume Scholten is internally conflicted and as such, deserves our prayers.
AnneMarie Schieber lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is a Republican Party delegate and has been a contributor to LifeSiteNews.