Former U.S. Attorney opposes Article 22, is best candidate to beat Peter Welch in November
Editor’s note: Jim Sexton of Essex Junction, a volunteer for the campaign to elect Gerald Malloy to U.S. Senate, longtime pro-lifer, and a worker for a Vermont crisis pregnancy center, on July 14 wrote the note below asking Mary Beerworth, Executive Director of Vermont Right to Life, to explain why she supports Christina Nolan in the GOP Senate primary. The note was published on Sexton’s social media. It, and Beerworth’s response, are published below.
Hi Mary,
I have been fighting for the unborn in the Statehouse Chambers, on the Statehouse Grounds and in my life for a long time. I have been blessed to have stood beside many God fearing people doing His work.
I am blessed to know you. I am working with Aspire Now to continue to fight for the most vulnerable and give them a voice.
I messaged you a short while ago with my concern about your support for Christina Nolan. I was most distressed about your Facebook post after the radio show she was on with WVMT.
You wrote that you had donated to her campaign. At that time I had heard Ms. Nolan admit that she supported abortion thru the 1st trimester. Since then she has clarified herself (the VPR debate) by saying the difference between herself and Welch was that he supports abortion to the moment of Birth, while she only supports it thru the 2nd trimester. In other words, while Welch is content with killing babies up to the moment of birth, she will fight for less than 1% of the unborn. Since the Roe V Wade decision she stated that she will fight to codify abortion if she gets elected to the U.S. Senate.
I cannot understand why you continue to support Ms. Nolan. This goes against everything you have fought for the last 30 years, if not more.
I am asking you to either come out Publicly and disassociate from Ms. Nolan and her campaign, or to resign from VT Right to Life. As I have said before, neither you, I or anyone else can be Pro Life part time.
Jim Sexton
Beerworth’s response:
Jim Sexton is in error to infer that I have endorsed Christina Nolan in my role as Executive Director of the Vermont Right to Life Committee (VRLC).
To be clear, I do personally support Christian Nolan, a woman with a strong legal background who has not only an unassailable record of serving Vermonters in her prior role as US States Attorney for Vermont, but who is also a firm a NO on the most important issue that has ever faced pro-life Vermont voters – Proposal 5/Article 22.
For those who are not aware, Article 22 is a proposed amendment to the Vermont Constitution that would legalize unrestricted and unregulated abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, until the moment of birth, and would irreparably damage Vermont on a host of other matters that relate to “personal reproductive autonomy.”
Additionally, Christina Nolan is the only candidate in the Republican Primary that can defeat 100% pro-abortion and 100% pro-Article 22, Peter Welch (D).
For a number of reasons, the VRLC Political Committee made a decision to refrain from making candidate recommendations in the 2022 Primary. That was not my decision.
Lacking a voter guide, if pro-life Vermont voters call me in the VRLC office for voter information, I inform them that Gerald Malloy is the only pro-life candidate in the race. I further inform them that Myers Mermel, also a Republican candidate in the Republican Primary, has publicly stated that while he is personally pro-life, he will do nothing if elected that is contrary to the current pro-abortion agenda.
Jim Sexton may believe that he somehow has the right to tell me what to do in my personal life and demand that I resign, but he is sadly mistaken. I was hired by the Vermont Right to Life Board of Directors 26 years ago and will continue to give my best effort to work under their direction. But only the VRLC Board can request my resignation.
Mary Hahn Beerworth, Executive Director, Vermont Right to Life Committee