Being a pro-choice Republican lawmaker has its struggles — especially when you get on a plane and encounter a fierce pro-life activist who spends the entire flight lecturing you on why you should really be pro-life.
That’s what happened to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who NARAL gives a 100% rating to on his pro-choice voting record. Kirk recently returned to the Senate after suffering a debilitating stroke in early 2012.
What took place on the flight was a potential PR disaster.
Bryan Kemper, a pro-life activist who runs Stand True Ministries, was freshly emboldened by a trip to Washington in which he attended a rally in the presence of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other pro-lifers. He boarded the plane and soon found himself sitting across from Kirk, a pro-choice senator who represents a liberal state.
What are the chances?
Before he even got to Kirk, Kemper fought with a woman in the aisle who noticed his “I will be the generation that will abolish abortion” T-shirt — who doesn’t wear great T-shirts like this? — and gave him the old coat hanger argument on why abortions should not be banned.
Kemper appears to be a social media whiz. He whipped that whole encounter into shape and slapped it up on Facebook before the flight attendants could shout at him to turn his smartphone off. And off he went to find his seat and an unsuspecting U.S. senator he could filibuster for the remainder of the flight.
From Kemper’s perspective, at first he and Kirk bonded over the senator’s time in the Navy, and Kemper shared that his son wants to be in the Coast Guard. He told Kirk about his former drug habit and occultist past. The conversation soon moved to Kirk’s work with human trafficking and Kemper’s subsequent freakout that the congressman is pro-choice.
Sure, Kemper likes that Kirk is fighting against child trafficking. That’s amazing and worthy and all. But how about not killing those unborn zygotes?
Kemper wrote, “The conversation was going well, I was showing him pictures of my kids and he shared how he wished he had a daughter to spoil. Then I asked him a single question: how do you vote on pro-life issues? He smiled and said he voted on the opposite side as me.
A loose translation of the thought bubble above Kirk’s head right about now: “Does this airline offer skydiving?”
Kemper went on to share “basic scientific facts” with Kirk. For instance, his knowledge on “zygote, embryo, fetus, infant, toddler, teenager or adult” and the sense that these are all living creatures.
Ultimately, Kemper went biblical and wrote that he asked Kirk which came first, his Senate seat or God? When given a choice of “God or country,” he says the senator chose “country.” His big takeaway: Kirk says retaining his Senate seat is more important than God. In other words, he won’t be voting with the pro-lifers anytime soon.
As Kemper deplaned, he continued to “plea” with Kirk to “do the right thing” and “vote for life.” He begged him to put God first and stand for life.
Upon landing, Kemper wrote the whole thing up for lifesitenews.com. The site was originally started by Campaign Life Coalition, a Canadian national pro-life organization HQ’d in Toronto, Canada. I’ll give him this – Kemper is not a bad writer or else LSN has good editors. Bryan Kemper‘s account is riveting and his burning determination could be commended.
His headline: “My 2-hour flight next to the GOP senator who made the mistake of telling me he’s pro-choice.”
Kemper insists he’ll be praying for Kirk and recited a Bible passage about getting into heaven.
The Mirror reached out to Kirk’s press office to find out if Kemper’s version of the story is accurate.
(Moral of the story to all members of Congress who board planes: Tape your mouth shut, slip on noise-cancelling earphones and talk to no one.)