Bus tour targets abortion, health care

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Dozens of local pro-life activists held up homemade signs, Tuesday, and welcomed a pro-life group that's urging people not to vote for candidates who supported President Obama's health care reform bill.

The Susan B. Anthony List is a nationwide network dedicated to ending abortion by advancing pro-life women in political process. The group kicked off a 23-city bus tour, Friday, to ask taxpayers to think twice about who they vote for on the November ballot.

"We wanted to point out the hypocrisy of so-called pro-life democrats who caved on the big one," said Marilyn Musgrave, program director of the Susan B. Anthony List's "Votes Have Consequences" project. Musgrave is also a former member of Congress from Colorado.

The president has promised to uphold existing laws that limit federal funding of abortions, but the group doesn't buy it. It believes taxpayers will pick up the tab for abortions. The tour targets publicly criticizes six Democrats, including Brad Ellsworth, the Democrat nominee for Evan Bayh's U.S. Senate seat.

"It is a fact that in (Ellsworth's) congressional district, a huge majority of his constituents oppose public funding of abortion. And it's going to make a difference when they cast their vote in November," said Musgrave.

Fort Wayne city council members Liz Brown and Tom Didier and Allen County Councilwoman Paula Hughes were among the local leaders at the Fort Wayne rally.

The group will be in South Bend, Rochester, Kokomo, Lafayette, and Crawfordsville Wednesday and will continue to tour Indiana cities through August 15th.