Of the remaining issues with the potential to bring down the entire health overhaul effort, the one that lawmakers fear most is abortion.
Abortion is such a politically hazardous issue that sponsors of both the House and Senate health bills have said their object was to maintain the status quo. “It is not the intention of this bill to, as the speaker has said, to change the policy that has been in place for three decades,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, (D-MD), on Tuesday. Hoyer was referring to what is known as the Hyde Amendment. It has barred federal funds from being used to pay for abortions since 1977.
But keeping the health bills abortion-neutral has proved impossible. And now the abortion language in the Senate-passed bill in particular could threaten the strategy Democratic leaders hope to use to get a final measure to President Obama’s desk for a signature.
Of course it’s going to be impossible to “keep[] the health bills abortion-neutral” – the more pervasive and invasive the government becomes the more it’s going to invade these spaces.
It’s the same thing with the Free Exercise & Establishment clauses – if the government becomes active in a sphere which it had not operated in previously, the more likely it will be to “entangle” itself in religion and to impinge on the free exercise of the religious.
This is not an argument for or against government health care – it is simply one of the facts which must be recognized. Do you want to give up certain rights and freedoms for this program? All sides must answer this question – if you believe there is an unlimited “right” to abortion, you must be willing to give up some of this right to have someone else fund it.
It has “proved impossible” to keep the bill “abortion-neutral” because Congressional leaders have chosen that course. Pelosi had to agree to a strong abortion clause to get her bill through the House, with backstage promises to strip the provision later. The supposedly more deliberative Senate broke first. If the House Democrats who supported the Stupak amendment bend to the will of the leadership now, it will stain their souls — and ours, as a nation.
[blockquote]Of the remaining issues with the potential to bring down the entire health overhaul effort, the one that [b]lawmakers[/b] fear most is abortion.[/blockquote] I think NPR means “Democrats”
[blockquote]”I think that some of the language is not just intended to wall off public money from paying for abortion services, it actually is intended to stigmatize abortion and treat it as something other than health care and discourage people from choosing health insurance plans that offer abortion coverage,” she said.[/blockquote]
This is from a woman who considers herself a Roman Catholic.
Actually, for liberal NPR, I thought this was a fairly objective and informative report. But of course, Deacon Dale and others above are right. I was struck by that same offensive quote, Dale.
Abortion SHOULD be stigmatized, along with euthansia. It’s not just a matter of restricting public funding (ala the old Hyde amendment); it’s a matter of changing public policy to no longer condone the inexcusable practice of abortion.
The pressure on pro-life Democrats is going to be intense. I sure hope enough of them stand strong and refuse to buckle and give in. They need our support.
David Handy+
oh heavens, trying to stigmatize abortion are those evil conservatives. npr and its sycophants are of course operating under the premise that abortion can’t be considered bad…oh no, never….
Once more I’ll chime in to mention that the only people I know who’ve had abortions are Christians.