Commentary: Voters are not beholden to a party

Pro-life Americans just celebrated the House’s passage of a crucial amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that, if signed into law, will protect American taxpayers from funding abortion-related travel for servicemembers and their dependents through the Department of Defense.

The amendment passed the House. However, we were deeply disappointed to see Representative John Duarte, a Republican from the 13th District, vote against saving lives and honoring the will of taxpayers across America. In the 2022 elections, voters of the San Joaquin Valley proved they are not beholden to a party. In a very close race, they rejected a Democrat who supported abortion up to birth and enshrining no-limits abortion in California’s constitution. Previously they voted to recall Gavin Newsom.

By voting against the Jackson-Roy amendment, Rep. Duarte didn’t only betray pro-life constituents. He also contradicted himself. In September while he was running for Congress, Duarte claimed, “I will vote against any effort to nationalize abortion law.” Surely that includes illegal bureaucratic runarounds that would impose no-limits abortion funding on all taxpayers.