BARBARA BOXER

In a Feb. 14 interview with Al Sharpton on the MSNBC television network, California Sen. Barbara Boxer left no doubt about where she stood on the ongoing conflict between the Catholic Church and the federal government over the HHS contraception mandate. “Let’s use an example,” said Boxer. “Let’s say somebody believes that medicine doesn’t cure anybody of a disease but prayer does and then they decide no medicine. No medicine! Under the Blunt Amendment, they could do just that.”

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The amendment, offered by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, would have allowed religious organizations or individual employers with moral objections to opt out of the HHS Mandate. It was defeated in the Senate on March 1 by a vote of 51-48, largely along party lines.

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Barbara Levy Boxer is currently one of California’s two senators along with Dianne Feinstein. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she graduated from Brooklyn College and moved to California with her husband in the 1960s. She worked in New York as a stockbroker and in California she worked as a journalist and an aide to U.S. Rep. John L. Burton. Her entry into politics began with a seat on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, where she went on to serve as the board’s first female president. In 1982, Boxer won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing California’s 6th District. In 1992, she was elected to the U.S. Senate, and has twice been re-elected since.

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Boxer’s voting record on abortion is one of the most radical in the Senate. She consistently votes to legalize abortion at any stage of pregnancy and bitterly argues against any attempt to protect the life of an unborn child.

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In 1999, C-SPAN recorded an exchange on the Senate floor between Boxer and then Sen. Rick Santorum, R-PA, over the issue of partial birth abortion, which is the act of delivering a baby feet-first and keeping all but the base of the baby’s head inside. Then a needle is inserted into the base of the baby’s skull and the contents are sucked out, thereby killing the child. Boxer insisted the grisly procedure should be called a “late-term abortion,” and ridiculed Santorum when he pressed her to define when, exactly, she thought it was OK to kill a baby. “Everyone knows what born means,” said Boxer. Santorum didn’t give up. He asked Boxer if she thought it was ok to kill a baby if a toe was still inside the mother? How about a foot? Boxer finally said, “I refuse to answer these questions.”

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Boxer has gained quite a reputation for making arguments in defense of abortion that simply defy logic. In a 2009 recorded speech given on the floor of the Senate, Boxer argued that, if laws were proposed to limit Viagra for men, she would refuse to support them. It would be the same thing as laws restricting access to abortion for women, she said.

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Boxer’s pro-abortion voting record is so lengthy, it would take up pages. Here are some of the highlights:

1995 Partial Birth Abortion Ban — Boxer voted against it.

1996 Medical Professions Amendment — Would have made it illegal for government agencies to discriminate against medical professionals who refused to learn how to perform abortions. Boxer voted against it.

1996 Overseas Abortion Amendment — Boxer supported unsuccessful efforts to allow use of Department of Defense facilities for privately funded abortions.

1996 Partial Birth /Late Term Abortion Ban — Boxer voted against it.

1997 Partial Birth / Late Term Abortion Ban — Boxer voted against it.

1997 Abortion at Overseas Military Facilities — Would have lifted ban on performing abortions at U.S. military facilities overseas. Boxer voted for it.

1997 Abortion Funding Amendment — Would have continued ban on providing federal funds for abortion except in cases where the woman’s life was in danger or in cases of rape and incest. Boxer voted against it.

1997 Fetal Tissue Research Amendment — Would have prohibited the use of federal funds for research that used fetal tissue obtained through abortion. Boxer voted against it.

1998 Overseas Military Hospital Abortions Amendment — Would have repealed the ban on use of overseas military facilities for performing abortions. Boxer voted for it. (In subsequent years, Boxer continued to back efforts to repeal the ban.)

1998 Partial Birth / Late Term Abortion Bill — Prohibits anyone from knowingly performing a partial birth abortion except in cases where the life of the woman is endangered by a physical disease or disorder, illness or injury. Boxer voted against it.

1999 Ban on Partial-Birth / Late Term Abortion – Boxer voted against it.

1999 Amendment to Express Support for Roe v. Wade — Boxer voted for it.

2003 Prohibit Partial-Birth / Late Term Abortion Bill — Boxer voted against it.

2006 Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act — Would have made illegal the practice of transporting underage girls across state lines to get an abortion, thereby avoiding state parental notification laws. Boxer voted against it.

2007 Prohibiting U.S. Assistance for Groups that Support Coercive Abortion — Would have blocked federal funding to organizations that support the practice of forced abortions and sterilizations. Boxer voted against it.

2007 Grants to Organizations Which Perform Abortions — Amendment to prevent federal funds from being given to organizations, with the exception of hospitals, that perform abortions where the mother’s life is not in danger. Boxer voted against it.

2008 Prohibiting the Funds in S 1200 from Being Used for Abortions — Vote to prevent federal funding for abortions under the Indigenous Health Bill, except in cases of rape or incest and/or if the life of the mother is endangered. Boxer voted against it.

2009 Prohibiting Federally Funded Abortion Services — Boxer voted to provide federal funding for abortion coverage.