With the great gains social and fiscal conservatives and independents handed House and Senate Republicans, we shouldn’t be facing the nightmare prospect of socially and fiscally liberal Fred Upton of Michigan heading the most powerful policy committee in the House: the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Read here an overview of that committee’s amazingly broad jurisdiction. According to National Right to Life Upton has the 6th worst career pro-life voting record in the House at 62%.

But due to politics, this is where we’re at. In the House 24 years, Upton has the seniority. He is a team player for Republican leadership most of the time, someone they can count on for critical votes when push comes to shove. And Upton has raised a ton of money for Republicans.

The kicker is no conservative Republican has risen to challenge Upton for the chairmanship position he’s salivating over.

Erick Erickson at RedState.com is calling for Republican leadership to utterly reject Upton, which, of course, would be best.

Here’s the first half of Plan B, which pro-aborts are screeching about: Garner a guarantee that pro-life stalwart Joe Pitts will head the Health Subcommittee.

This subcommittee handles all public health decisions in the House (oversight, hearings, investigations, subpoenas, legislation) -  Obamacare (to a great extent, not positive how much yet), Medicaid, Title X, the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, and more.

The Health Subcommittee has been Planned Parenthood’s headquarters on the Hill. Pitts as chairman would be devastating to pro-aborts.

The other half of Plan B: Fill all Republican vacancies on the Energy and Commerce Committee with solid pro-lifers.

Here is National Right to Life’s letter to Republican leadership yesterday outlining the problems with Upton and the aforementioned demands.

The Susan B. Anthony List also just issued a statement making the same demands:

Appointment of Congressman Joe Pitts (R-PA), champion in the fight against abortion in health care, to Chairman of Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is a must-send message from GOP House leadership to pro-life America.  It is deeply troubling to the entire pro-life movement that the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over life and death policies affecting unborn children, would have a mixed voting record on abortion.  The powerful Energy and Commerce Committee is the gateway for almost every pro-life protection America has consistently affirmed in polls and elections.  It is critical that the Energy and Commerce committee reflect the values of the pro-life American majority that sent a freshman class to Congress with marching orders to end all federal funding of abortion.  All its members, including new appointments, should embrace these pro-life values.  Given Congressman Fred Upton’s record, Congressman Joe Pitts’ appointment as Chairman of the Health Subcommittee – the critical subcommittee for abortion policy – is a non-negotiable.

This is a big deal. Please call or write your current and new House representatives today. I don’t have a list of the newbies, but you should know who yours is. The House Republican leadership has given this group more seats at the table, so even they can exert influence on this.