President Donald Trump announced that former Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo would replace Rex Tillerson as U.S. Secretary of State.
Tillerson said he would step down immediately from the role.
“I’ll now return to private life, as a private citizen, as a proud American, proud of the opportunity I had to serve my country,” Tillerson said.
Pompeo, who graduated first in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point, had been working as director of Central Intelligence.
According to LifeSiteNews.com, Pompeo is a longtime supporter of pro-life and pro-family initiatives.
When he served in Congress, Pompeo said he believed life begins at conceptions. He also co-sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life Act, which says “each human life begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, at which time every human has all legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood..."
He also co-sponsored another act that called for the prohibition of federal funding to groups that perform abortions and stood behind a bill that would have included an unborn child in 14th amendment protections.
In his voting record, he has voted against providing abortion information at school health centers and prohibiting funding for Planned Parenthood.
Pompeo is also a supporter of the traditional view on marriage and has opposed LGBT initiatives.
"Creating, out of nowhere, a federal right to marry, flies in the face of centuries of shared understanding of our Constitution,” he said when same-sex marriage became legal in the U.S. “It is a shocking abuse of power. It is wrong. I will continue to fight to protect our most sacred institutions; Kansans and our nation deserve no less."
"As a Kansan, I hold a deep reverence for the sanctity of life, the solidarity of family, and the solemnity of marriage. I will continue the fight to uphold these fundamental ideals each and every day,” he said.
“I am, and always will be pro-life and will defend life from conception to natural death. I will continue to oppose any taxpayer funding for abortion. I also fully support the traditional institution of marriage. Strong families are the most important building block of our Republic, and we must preserve them for the sake of our community and our culture."
Photo courtesy: Flickr.com
Publication date: March 14, 2018