Doug Pike is publicly pro-choice . . . Really?

By TRIVEDI FOR CONGRESS

Reading, Pa. – In an email sent out by his campaign on December 1, 2009 and in a subsequent op-ed, Doug Pike makes a claim that he is the “only publicly pro-choice candidate” running in the 6th congressional district. Given his own public record, the facts tell a very different story.

In a column Mr. Pike publicly wrote in 1990, he publicly endorsed the re-election campaign of how he phrased it, “a zealous opponent of abortion” for the Pennsylvania state legislature. Mr. Pike went on to state that his endorsed candidate’s positions on other issues were “more important that his crusade against the right to an abortion.”

Advocates of abortion rights understand that candidates may verbalize their support of their positions, but it is their actions that speak volumes.

The campaign for Democrat Manan Trivedi called into question Mr. Pike’s wide-ranging public positions.

“First we have the Doug Pike that endorses abortion ‘zealots’ and then we have the Doug Pike who boasts wildly that he is the lone public supporter of abortion rights,” said Trivedi spokesperson Daren Berringer. “While we don’t pretend to understand where Doug Pike really stands on this issue, two things are true: Doug Pike will write or say anything to get the public’s attention and Manan Trivedi is pro-choice.”

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Reporters Note: The Doug Pike column in reference was a 1990 piece that appeared in the Abortion Report, endorsing then state representative Stephen Freind, the original spons

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or of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act.