Pro-lifers to Senate Dems: “Bring on the abortion debate”
In the wake of the Senate’s vote yesterday to move forward with debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid’s healthcare bill and all its baggage, National Right to Life’s Doug Johnson issued a hostile, ready-to-rumble response, and I gotta say I love it….
Now you’ll get debate – on government-funded abortion
WASHINGTON (November 21, 2009) – The US Senate tonight barely cleared an initial 60-vote procedural hurdle, setting the stage for a 2,074-page health care bill, crafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), to move forward to debate before the full Senate. The following statement was issued by the National Right to Life Committee, the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, and may be attributed to NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson….
As NRLC has previously noted, Senator Reid’s bill [on page 118] would authorize the federal government to pay for any and all abortions through a huge new federal health insurance program, the “public option,” and also to subsidize purchase of private plans that cover abortion on demand.
President Obama and Reid know that the substance of these abortion-promoting policies is deeply unpopular, so they seek to conceal the reality with layers of contorted definitions and money-laundering schemes.
Obama and Reid wanted debate – so now they’ll get debate, on their cloaked provisions that would cover abortion on demand in proposed new government-run and government-subsidized insurance plans.
Obama and Reid are seeking to block enactment of the bipartisan Stupak-Pitts compromise, adopted by the… House… on November 7 by a vote of 240-194. This amendment would prevent government funding of elective abortion through the proposed “public option,” and would also prevent federal subsidies from paying for private insurance plans that cover elective abortion.
During the weeks ahead, NRLC will continue to fight the efforts of President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders to cover abortion on demand in 2 huge new federal health programs.
The Senate bill faces additional 60-vote hurdles in the future. Moreover, a courageous group of pro-life Democrats in the House will oppose final approval of health care legislation if the Stupak-Pitts Amendment is gutted or removed.
For extensive further documentation on the Stupak-Pitts Amendment and other aspects of the issue, visit the NRLC website….
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hostile?–never. Say rather, resolute and relentless.
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director
National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)
Legfederal // at // aol-dot-com
Bring. It. On!
Doug, since I know the typically measured, erudite you, I call this hostile… :)
We are ready to fight the abortion industry bailout!
Abortion on demand is NOT healthcare.
Pre-natal childkilling is ‘population control’ with arbitary standards of quality and quantity being determined by the passing fancies and whims of the progressive/liberal/humanists.
yor bro ken
There certainly is work to be done in the debate in the Senate. While pro-life forces have not had the votes in the Senate to initiate much in recent years the pro-abortion forces have not had the votes to scuttle basic House initiatives such as the Hyde Amendment either.
Health care reform is an unusual type of legislation given the number of lobbies with lines in the sand, both pro and con, depending on the inclusion of certain provisions. Combined with other concerns is it possible that 3, 2, or even 1 Democrat Senator standing for life would bring down the bill as long as the leadership and the White House insist on abortion funding in the program?
Let’s get it on!!!
I pray God raises up a William Wilberforce in the Senate, full of the Holy Spirit and Fire, and that his words will bring hot conviction to the pro-death mob in the Senate.
We need to bombard Heaven with prayer.
It would be great if CBR could do a Genocide Awareness Project at the Capital Bldg. (too bad restricted airspace will prevent Gregg from buzzing the Capital Bldg. with a couple of abortion planes).
We need to take this opportunity to put the center of the country’s attention squarely on the issue of abortion. Someone needs to tell those Senators that the American people don’t want to pay for abortions, and then, using the most graphic imagery we have, show them why!!!
It’s not a mystery anymore.
Abortion is genocide!
In the natural, our chances don’t look so good but if we, like David, will Run to the Battle, with fierce determination and resolve, we can win.
Minno,
You really need to get saved.
You don’t know what you’re missing.
Thanks you for being resolute as the time is now to do something.
By restricting abortion funding, the Hyde Amendment or the Stupak Amendment affects only those who can least afford medical care: poor women.
I trust that women are capable of making difficult, emotional medical decisions in consultation with their families and physicians and if that means my tax dollars are used to support those decisions than that is what is part of living in a democracy.
Our nation should be furious that health insurance reform that could benefit so many millions, may be derailed by the private medical issue of abortion.
Bronte,
Tearing a baby girl from her mother’s womb in bloody pieces is barbaric and is not “health” care. And how does forcing millions of the poor to pay for government run health insurance or go to jail benefit them?
Bronte,
If you are familiar enough to read Jill’s blog with any regularity it would be my guess that you do recognize the separate life of the child within the womb. Why would you not then recognize the civil rights of those two (or more in the case of multiple births) distinct human lives?
At the very best, abortion is an elective medical procedure. At the very worst, abortion kills an innocent human being.
Either way, there’s no reason to support it with tax dollars. If you want an abortion, pay for it yourself.
Fascinating post on the (pro-abortion-choice) Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/its-too-early-to-celebrat_b_366631.html
Here’s the key point:
For starters, to get to an up-or-down vote on the final bill in the Senate, this 60-vote procedural hurdle will have to be jumped over again to close debate, and Sen. Joe Lieberman has already promised to join the Republicans in filibustering any bill that contains a public option. There are also several other centrist Democrats in the Senate who may not vote for cloture if there is a public option in the bill. Since the Democrats were only able to secure the minimum 60 votes to get past the Republicans this time, without Lieberman’s vote (and all of the centrists’), if no Republican jumps ship, a bill containing a public option cannot get to the floor.
So yes, we had an opportunity to stop it on Saturday, and that opportunity has been lost. Don’t spend too much time stressing over it. The bill will require another cloture vote — requiring 60 senators — before it can pass. The fight has only begun in the Senate.
There is still plenty of time to kill the bill.
First priority for Christians is to pray. The Holy Spirit can move the hearts of the senators to protect the lives of the unborn.
The second priority for Christians (first priority for everyone else) is to call your senators. Jam those phone lines! Call early, and call often. When you call, be polite, yet firm in expressing your opinion. Don’t let your (justifiable) emotion get the better of you. Simply make a respectful, clear argument for why Harrycare must be stopped.
Your senators:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state