Taxpayer-funding of abortion is extremely unpopular with the American people, and it may be the issue that prevents socialized medicine from becoming a reality in America. Speaker Nancy Pelosi got testy with reporters yesterday when the issue of abortion in the ObamaCare bill came up. When asked about it, Pelosi said, “This is not about abortion! …I will not have it turned into a debate on (abortion).” She then went on to suggest that the Senate’s bill “is abortion neutral.”
Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan disagrees and is quoting the healthcare bill “chapter and verse.” When told of Pelosi’s statement at a press conference yesterday, Rep. Stupak responded:
“She’s incorrect. I’d ask the speaker to direct her attention to page 2069 through page 2078. There are two ways in those pages where you pay for abortion. Number one, you get tax breaks that subsidize your insurance policy that will pay for abortion. Number two, when you read the legislation, one dollar per month for all enrollees, must go into this fund for ‘reproductive care,’ which includes abortion coverage.”
Whom do you believe – the Speaker from San Francisco or a courageous congressman willing to buck his own leadership?
Here’s why abortion funding is such an issue: Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joe Pitts (R-PA) introduced an amendment in the House to ban abortion funding in the healthcare “reform” bill. It passed overwhelmingly with the support of 64 Democrats, and Nancy Pelosi was not one of them. But the Stupak/Pitts amendment was opposed by President Obama, and did not survive the Senate. In its place are the abortion funding provisions Rep. Stupak noted above. And that’s why Democrats are at an impasse today.
To make the reconciliation process work, the House must pass the Senate bill with no changes. That means the 64 House Democrats who supported the Stupak/Pitts amendment must now vote for a bill that funds abortion. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to address abortion in the reconciliation process. To understand why, click here for an excellent analysis. New polling data suggests abortion funding could be devastating for Democrats at the ballot box.
6 comments:
How about a "click here to read the actual text of the bill"?
Because the text of the actual bill would allow those that can read and think for themselves to make an informed unbiased decision. Instead we get the spin. What part of "This blog is opinionated only" don't you understand?
There is some twisted logic on display here.
Nobody cares, but fundamentalist extremes, so a couple reps make some noise to get their votes.
Abortion is the current "hot button" topic in the health care debate, but let's not lose sight of the bigger picture, "government run" health care.
Practically everything the federal government has gotten it's fingers into has become a quagmire, slowed down processes previously in place, and in general made an utter ass of everything. It's time to put this pig out of it's misery and tell the federal government that if the Constitution doesn't endorse a federal role in a process, then butt out.
The Hyde Amendment makes it ILLEGAL for federal money to fund abortion. It has been on the book since the 70s. But don't let that truth get in the way of a good story...
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