Bob Casey’s Abortion Evolution

When Catholic Democratic senator Bob Casey Jr. first ran for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 2006, he defined his abortion stance in candid terms. “As many of you know, I am a pro-life Democrat. I believe that life begins at conception and ends when we draw our last breath. And I believe that the role of government is to protect, enrich, and value life for everyone, at every moment, from beginning to end.”

Quite a bit has changed since then. Nearly 18 years after he delivered that Pope John XXIII Lecture at Catholic University, his law-school alma mater, Casey no longer believes the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” are politically salient descriptors in the post-Dobbs era — for him or anyone else.

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Audrey Fahlberg

Audrey Fahlberg was a politics reporter for National Review.

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When Catholic Democratic senator Bob Casey Jr. first ran for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 2006, he defined his abortion stance in candid terms. “As many of you know, I am a pro-life Democrat. I believe that life begins at conception and ends when we draw our last breath. And I believe that the role of government is to protect, enrich, and value life for everyone, at every moment, from beginning to end.”

Quite a bit has changed since then. Nearly 18 years after he delivered that Pope John XXIII Lecture at Catholic University, his law-school alma mater, Casey no longer believes the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” are politically salient descriptors in the post-Dobbs era — for him or anyone else.