The politics of protection
It’s an old standard that the Democrats are (or were) the party that looked out for ‘the little guy,’ who took care of the poor, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, while the Republicans were (or are) the party of small government. But abortion has changed all that, since the unborn child is probably the weakest and most marginalized human person among us.
And this week’s Senate vote on the SCHIP program is just another example of how some of our nation’s leaders continue to lose their moral compass.
In an ironic vote, Senate Democrats led a fight against an amendment to the SCHIP bill on Thursday night that would have helped poor pregnant women and their unborn children obtain prenatal care. They voted against restoring a program that allows states to provide help for pregnant women in difficult financial circumstances.
The reasons for the vote likely had more to do with the politics of abortion.
Of course. Everything does. Here’s some background:
In 2002, President Bush authorized a change in the SCHIP program that allowed states to cover pregnant women and their babies — and many states such as California, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Texas, Wisconsin and Michigan — have done so…
With control of Congress, pro-abortion lawmakers have revised the program and dropped the Unborn Child Rule in favor of language saying that pregnant women can be covered, but not their babies.
Some lawmakers tried to save it.
Sen. Wayne Allard, a Colorado Republican, attempted to include unborn children again, but his amendment was defeated Thursday on a 50-49 mostly party-line vote.
That was razor thin. And though it was “mostly” a party-line vote, it wasn’t entirely. Take note:
Republicans mostly voted in favor of the Allard amendment, including pro-life Democrats Bob Casey and Ben Nelson. Democrats Mary Landrieu and Massachusetts lawmakers John Kerry and Ted Kennedy voted for it as well.
Democrats opposed it and were joined by pro-abortion Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Ted Stevens of Alaska.
So who’s protecting whom here? And who’s really looking out for the most vulnerable among us? The vote roll call here makes that answer clear.
