I feel like I need to respond to the accusations against Rep. Wolkins by some abortion abolitionists.
I have had the privilege of working on Dave’s campaign, and I wrote the literature that is being used in the attacks on his life record and on his personal integrity. On the literature, I used two of his many, many votes for life on the piece along with the statement “Voted to END abortion."
I was not careful in choosing the two votes that I cited because I believed – it turns out mistakenly – that anyone looking at the piece would understand that these were only two votes in a long record of votes for life, even if they weren’t the best examples of votes to END abortion.
There are better bills to support the literature, but honestly, would it make a difference? If you're willing to say anything just to get your guy elected, would it even matter that Rep. Wolkins has voted to end abortion as often as he's ever had the opportunity?
In any case, Rep. Wolkins voted to end abortion for babies over 20 weeks in 2011 with HB1210, and he voted to end abortion based on race, sex, and disability in 2016 with HB1137. Neither could end abortion for all babies, and it isn’t likely that any bill to end abortion without qualifications could ever pass, but I don’t know how anyone looking at Rep. Wolkins’ voting record can accuse him of not being pro-life enough.
It's sad that we've been reduced to playing gotcha politics. It’s sad that rather than looking at his whole record, some people are trying, as the pharisees, to catch him in his words.
It's sad that my mistake has given fodder to people who are willing to ruin the reputation and character of a man who has fought for Christian values in the legislature for his entire career. I hope that people will look at the man, rather than the mistakes of a campaign worker.
