The day after
Sunday night, Congress ended a dramatically long and intense weekend of backroom wrangling and avoiding the thousands of citizens who descended on Washington to protest the health bill and the majority of Americans who opposed it. So the deal got done, and some news analysts began saying immediately afterward that life in America has just begun to change.
How? Where to begin….
Start with the abortion business. It will expand now, here and abroad. My inbox is filling quickly today with statements and news releases from pro-life groups, faith-based organizations and individuals who have worked to exclude abortion funding from health care legislation.
Last Thursday State Department deputy secretary Jacob Lew presided at the rollout of a report at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on what they are calling “smart” global health policy… The new agenda admirably puts emphasis on maternal and child health. However…Secretary of State Clinton has made it clear that the Obama maternal and child health agenda includes abortion rights.
The American Life League says what got compromised in the final deal was human life.
“Last night the pro-life movement learned several hard lessons. Foremost among those is that it is never morally acceptable, and often it is not even politically expedient, to compromise human beings’ lives in the hopes of saving some others…
“The eventual passage of the health care bill, with its monumental support of child killing, exposed the foolishness of depending upon politicians to protect the lives of preborn babies.
“The American people need to preemptively take control again by declaring – in state after state across the nation – that a preborn human being is recognized as a person under the laws of their states.
Actually, states rights took a big hit with this legislation. Health care law that’s about to roll out will consolidate tremendous power in the federal government, which is why some 38 or more states are lining up to challenge the bill in the courts. But they’re right about the foolishness of depending on politicians…
CatholicVoteAction.org says Stupak’s decision was ‘unconscionable’.
The Executive Order fix is a band-aid solution that fails to solve the fundamental problems in this bill, and can be repealed at any time, for any reason, by the President or future presidents. The Order is likely to be challenged by pro-abortion groups, and could be struck down by the courts.
“Regrettably, Rep. Stupak has abandoned those who have stood by him during the recent weeks and months.
“The Catholic Bishops along with CatholicVote.org and every major pro-life organization oppose this ‘fix.’ We have defended Rep. Stupak for months, but today we stand in protest of his decision.
A decision which CVA believes Stupak will come to deeply regret.
National Right to Life calls it a raw deal.
A lawmaker who votes for this bill is voting to require federal agencies to subsidize and administer health plans that will pay for elective abortion, and voting to undermine longstanding pro-life policies in other ways as well. Pro-life citizens nationwide know that this is a pro-abortion bill. Pro-life citizens know, and they will be reminded again and again, which lawmakers deserve their gratitude for voting against this pro-abortion legislation…
The executive order promised by President Obama was issued for political effect. It changes nothing. It does not correct any of the serious pro-abortion provisions in the bill. The president cannot amend a bill by issuing an order, and the federal courts will enforce what the law says.
“The issue is just not that complicated,” says blogger Jay Richards.
There is a “deliberate omission†of Hyde-like restrictions in the Senate bill. Everybody knows this. If the Senate bill really were pro-life, then what possible objection could there have been to adopting the Stupak language (which simply extends the longstanding Hyde Amendment policy to the bill) and gaining a few more votes early on? Why the grueling battle for votes to the very end? Why have pro-choice groups fought so hard to keep the Senate bill free of Stupak language? Why the trouble of President Obama agreeing to issue an executive order limiting federal funding for abortion (which is yet another deception that won’t do anything significant.) All this tells us that the bill simply doesn’t maintain pro-life standards.
Stupak used to know that.
When this went down, House Minority Leader John Boehner gave one last impassioned speech before the vote, and then asked members of the House to at least be accountable to their electorate for their votes.
He asked for a roll call vote to be taken, as opposed to an electronic vote tally, a call [acting Speaker David] Obey denied.
So, here you go. What your representative did in that decisive moment.
