Pro-life turncoats Kildee, Oberstar, Perriello
Bear 1 thing in mind as a prologue to this post. All 3 of the following congressmen voted “yes” for Obamacare in the House in November. Their defections result in no net whip count gain for Pelosi.
Recall that Planned Parenthood endorses the Senate healthcare bill with “fixes” to Ben Nelson’s supposed pro-life amendment (and recall Nelson disallowed the National Right to Life Committee from analyzing it), while it outright rejects the House’s healthcare bill with the authentic pro-life Stupak Amendment.
And recall the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, NRLC, Democrats for Life, and every other pro-life/pro-family group out there opposes the Senate healthcare bill because it forces public funding of abortion.
Nevertheless, “pro-life” Democrat Dale Kildee of MI determined to side with PP and determine we’re all wrong, after laughably conferring with Nelson, whose reputation and political future hinge on his amendment. Quoting his statement from the New York Times…
For those who know me, I have always respected and cherished the sanctity of human life. I spent 6 years studying to be a priest and was willing to devote my life to God. I came to Congress 2 years after the Hyde amendment became law. And I have spent the last 34 years casting votes to protect the lives of the unborn. I have stood up to many in my party to defend the right to life and have made no apologies for doing so.
I now find myself disagreeing with some of the people and groups I have spent a lifetime working with. I have listened carefully to both sides, sought counsel from my priest, advice from family, friends and constituents, and I have read the Senate abortion language more than a dozen times….
I am convinced that the Senate language maintains the Hyde amendment, which states that no federal money can be used for abortion.
We must not lose sight of what is at stake here – the lives of 31 million American children, adults, and seniors who don’t have health insurance. There is nothing more pro-life than protecting the lives of 31 million Americans. Voting for this bill in no way diminishes my pro-life voting record or undermines my beliefs. I am a staunch pro-life member of Congress – both for the born and the unborn.
Bull and bull. One can’t maintain concern for the born while supporting taxpayer funding to kill the preborn.
Then there’s Democrat Rep. Jim Oberstar, the former co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus. He also spoke with Nelson, the blood on whose hands only drips more, and changed his mind. According to Politico:
… Oberstar, an ardent backer of the House abortion restrictions, will vote for the final package after a further review of the Senate’s language….
“I wanted to see the language, understand it better, have conversations with Sen. Nelson,” Oberstar said Wednesday. “On balance, it does what we need to do.”
For that reason, he’s supporting the final bill….
The chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said he hasn’t had any conversations with… Stupak… nor was he swayed by the arguments of an outside group.
Oberstar slipped into an elevator after addressing reporters’ questions, and who should be the only other member on board? Why Stupak, of course.
Perfect.
Then there’s MI Rep. Tom Perriello, who also expressed satisfaction the Senate healthcare bill does not violate his pro-life principles:
As health care experts and pro-life leaders agree, the abortion language in the Senate bill upholds the Hyde Amendment standard. The Senate health care bill prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, as the Catholic Hospital Association and legal experts have recently stated and as my own research has confirmed….
I have tended to avoid the labels pro-life and pro-choice – often drawing ire from both sides of this debate – because I believe those labels serve to end debate rather than start us on a path towards solutions….
I have plenty of serious problems with the Senate bill and, until I see the final language, I cannot take a position on final passage. But the existing language on abortion in the current Senate bill meets the pledge I made to ensure no federal funding for abortion in this health care bill.
That Periello avoided being pegged as pro-life tells me he wasn’t really.
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.
I wonder how his priest advised him?
I just wonder how the Manhattan Declaration comes in once this thing is passed.
His compassion for the uninsured is admirable, but Kildee is wrong to be asking others for their opinions. (Even a priest can give he wrong “advice” at times.) The real question he should be asking himself is – “What would Jesus do? Would Jesus approve of forcing this debt on our children and grandchildren? I don’t think so. Jesus would tell him to “find another way”.
Looks like Ben is pulling votes away from the pro-life side. How does he play that one at home? Guess we will have to publically call him on it….
I hate to say this, because I am a Catholic who believes strongly in the ordained priesthood, but I have to wonder how Kildee’s priest counseled him, too. Simply put, there are too many priests who waver on the pro-life issue. I could see a priest justifying this bill by saying it meets other “social justice” needs, so it is worth the trade off of unborn lives. I’m not saying it is right, or good, I’m just saying that it is a reality that many priests have been taken in my our culture of relativism.
He might be another ‘Pelosi’ who goes to Rome and the Pope actually dissertates the importance of the sanctity of life to her but then Pelosi turns to the public and muddies what the pope says, and says essentially “we had an important conversation”. Ugh, no, the Pope says to protect life. But democticians can twists things as always.
The same reaction Jill experienced watching BO I got reading about these betrayers of innocent children. Instead of courageously, fearlessly working to protect and defend unborn children, like Judas…
they sell out.
They are a disgrace to their gender, yes men.
Cowards
They have compromised their integrity and character in an effort to please satan’s stooges, BO and Nancy.
They have been deceived and will soon be on record for voting to underwrite the murder in cold blood of defenseless children with my money (and yours).
Whether or not Obamacare passes, they will at least be guilty of conspiracy to shed innocent blood, which is a violation of God’s Justice.
Except they repent, the three of them will perish. Lu 13.3
Eternity is a long time.
I am so tired of hearing from these devout Catholic’s that are pro abortion. Abortion is evil. They are giving us Catholics more trouble with our faith and the way it is thought of by non Catholics. These politician’s that are pushing this through will not be in office long!!