Catholic Tim Kaine Now Supports Taxpayer-Funded Abortion

Matt Vespa

Well, of course, the media thinks that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Hillary Clinton’s choice for vice president, is the most Catholic of Catholics. The Washington Post gushed over him, calling the senator the “Pope Francis Catholic” due to Kaine’s work to help the poor. Newsbusters’ Tim Graham aptly noted that Kaine has a 100 percent rating from the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) and the progressive Human Rights Campaign. So, when The Post, or the larger news media, says politician X is a die-hard Catholic, “it probably means you’re a liberal opposed to Catholic orthodoxy.” Well, that NARAL rating looks like it will be maintained at a perfect A-plus score since Kaine has decided to back taxpayer-funded abortion (via Bloomberg Politics):

Democratic vice-presidential pick Tim Kaine has privately told nominee Hillary Clinton he will support repeal of the Hyde Amendment, a 1976 provision that bans the use of federal dollars for abortion services, Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson and Kaine spokeswoman Amy Dudley said Tuesday.

[…]

It aligns the Virginia senator with Clinton and other reproductive-rights advocates, who argue that the decades-old Hyde Amendment, which primarily affects Medicaid, is an impediment for low-income women seeking abortions.

The Democratic Party platform approved this week included a plank calling for repeal of the amendment and other measures that "impede a woman's access to abortion."

Abortion foes view the Hyde Amendment, which is routinely attached to federal spending bills, as one of their great successes.

Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski resurrected 2005 Tim Kaine, where the then-gubernatorial candidate said he was a “conservative on issues of personal responsibility… As a former Christian missionary, faith is central to my life. I oppose gay marriage, I support restrictions on abortion — no public funding and parental consent — and I’ve worked to pass a state law banning partial-birth abortion” in his radio ads. He also said that his position on abortion was similar to that of then-President George W. Bush.