Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann signed a pledge vowing to oppose “any redefinition of the institution of marriage,” and to protect women and children from “all forms of pornography and prostitution, infanticide, abortion and other types of coercion or stolen innocence.”
The pledge, entitled “The Marriage Vow – A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and FAMiLY,” authored by The FAMiLY Leader, a Christian organization focusing on social conservatism that refuses to back any candidate who doesn’t sign the pledge.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum is the only other candidate to put pen to paper on the document, which was released today.
The pledge states that married people enjoy “better health, better sex, longer lives, greater financial stability … less addiction, less legal trouble, and less extramarital pregnancy.” And that all candidates must reform the “anti-marriage aspects of welfare policy, tax policy, and marital/divorce law.”
The declaration notes what it claims are the social ills resulting from the breakdown of the family structure.
LBJ‟s 1965 War on Poverty was triggered in part by the famous “Moynihan Report” finding that the black out-of-wedlock birthrate had hit 26%,” the document reads. “Today, the white rate exceeds that, the overall rate is 41%, and over 70% of African-American babies are born to single parents – a prime sociological indicator for poverty, pathology and prison regardless of race or ethnicity.”
The organization is lead by Bob Vander Plaats, a one-time Iowa gubernatorial candidate, and 2008 Mike Huckabee Iowa state campaign chair.
In the past, Vander Platts has claimed that legalizing same-sex marriage opens the door for legalized polygamy and incest. He and The FAMiLY Leader have labeled homosexuality a public health risk, comparing it to secondhand smoking.