After NARAL Executive Director Grayson Dempsey attacked state Republican Rep. Knute Buehler’s pro-choice views, Buehler responded by asserting most Oregonians don’t support the more extreme views of pro-abortion groups and providers.
Most Oregon residents are “pro-choice with certain limitations or pro-life with certain exceptions,” Buehler wrote in an opinion piece for Oregon Live. He said that most people in Oregon have more moderate views and respect those that differ from theirs. NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and Emily’s List do not operate this way, however, he claimed.
“These groups engage in scorched-earth, highly partisan politics and are quick to attack anyone who doesn’t agree 110 percent with their far-left agenda,” he said, adding that these kind of attacks reflect a “national campaign to marginalize and silence moderate voices.” He wrote that the attacks on more moderate pro-choice views also points to a growing intolerance and rigidity within American politics rejecting anything less than fervent embrace of pure liberal orthodoxy.
As a Republican, Buehler stands out for his pro-choice view that abortion should remain “safe, legal and rare,” but said that today’s pro-abortion groups have gone off the deep end by insisting that abortions should be “taxpayer-funded, un-checked and on-demand.” He cited more moderate legislation that has been effective in decreasing abortion, such as a bill that provides over the counter birth control, as the kind of laws that Oregonians want.
Buehler said he has supported reproductive and abortion rights as well as increased access to birth control and opposed more extreme pro-abortion legislation. He insisted that a more moderate approach to abortion legislation — which reflects what Oregon residents actually desire — has essentially been blacklisted by pro-abortion lobby groups that benefit from what he calls “highly charged polarized debate.”
The phenomenon of political inflexibility in Oregon — displayed so aptly by Oregon’s recent law mandating free abortions for all Oregonians — “undermines our ability to find common ground on issues critical to Oregon’s future – like long overdue education, budget, health care and pension reforms,” Buehler said. (Related: SIGNED: Abortion Is Free For All In Oregon). I am running for governor to “re-establish a moderate, bipartisan center where the best ideas from Republicans, Democrats and Independents can create a better Oregon,” Buehler added, expressing hope that he will be able to reverse the trend of putting special-interests ahead of middle class needs.
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