Pro-Life Groups Demonstrate in Wheeling To Thank Senator Joe Manchin for Stance on Filibuster
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WHEELING -- Pro-life supporters see the Senate filibuster as paramount to stopping pro-choice policy, and they are thanking U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin for his efforts to keep the filibuster rule option alive in the Senate.
A group of about 50 pro-life supporters from Franciscan University and West Virginians for Life -- many of them outspoken Republicans -- turned out Friday to take a stand in front of the City-County Building in downtown Wheeling and thank the Democrat Manchin.
At least one of the students turning out for the pro-life demonstration remarked she didn't realize she was there for Manchin. Others in attendance cheered when a vehicle displaying an image of former President Donald Trump drove past.
The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List organized the demonstration Friday in Wheeling — and similar ones in Fairmont and Charleston — to thank Manchin for standing firm on his support for retaining the filibuster rule in the Senate.
Manchin's opposition to removing the filibuster could prove important to the fate of much of the policy being set forth by the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats. Most controversial bills in the Senate require a 60 votes in the affirmative for passage, and currently the Senate is equally divided between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans -- with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris providing a deciding vote when parties are deadlocked.
Maintaining the filibuster assures that at least 10 members of the opposing support a piece of legislation. This rule is seen as important by pro-life supporters, who see it as imperative to keeping pro-choice policy from the Biden Administrtion from becoming law.
"We are in West Virginia today to thank Sen. Joe Manchin for standing up for the pro-life values of West Virginia," said Prudence Robertson, spokeswoman for the Susan B. Anthony List. "He is promising to preserve the filibuster, and the filibuster is what pro-life policy is dependent on now with radical Democrats in control in the House and Senate."
Also speaking was former U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colorado, who now serves as vice president of government affairs for the Susan B. Anthony List.
She said the organization was grateful to Manchin for taking a stand against eliminating the filibuster, as "it is about much more than Senate rules."
Tommy Valentine of CatholicVote.org in Steubenville said Manchin has the opportunity to "stand like a Mountain in the Senate and protect West Virginia values."
Also addressing the group was Tina Whittington, Executive Vice President, Students for Life of America, and Julia Chaplin of West Virgnians for Life — Ohio County.