A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.
“Yes. We’re prepared to take responsibility,” Stupak said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion.
“Let’s face it. I want to see healthcare. But we’re not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about,” he said.
Bravo!
is the Lord working His way in seeing that our health care system is not turned over to the state? As much as I don’t like the current system, I have zero confidence this plan would improve things. To see it fall apart over abortion, well, it makes you wonder what (and who) is at work…
God bless and uphold these 12 for standing firm.
How many Democrats would vote down health care if the Stupak amendment were not attached?
Clearly the Democrats in the Senate had the option of retaining the Stupak amendment and rejected it.
If I understand correctly, the abortion funding in the senate bill cannot be changed by the reconciliation process. How many of the twelve need to hold out to prevent a Pelosi majority?
I’m in the minority here in that I actually pray that meaningful health care reform ultimately succeeds. However I’m glad that Stupak and the others are taking the stand against abortion funding and I hope this issue can be changed in the bill to secure their votes.
Re #6
I think my one word comment in #1 may have given a false impression. I also support meaningful reform of the health care system. We are the only country in the developed world that still rations HC on the basis of income and ability to pay. That’s immoral. I favor a single payer system with private insurance options for those who are disposed to go that route, similar to what the vast majority of developed nations have.
That said I would rather see HC reform crash and burn than have it open the door to tax payer funded abortions.
HC reform on a large scale is inevitable. If it doesn’t happen this year it will happen sometime in the coming years. Businesses and municipalities are rapidly losing the ability cover all of their employees and retirees. The cost to the economy and the national government of the current all private for profit health insurance system is unsustainable. Washington pols are generally resistant to reality checks. But numbers are inconvenient little things. If we don’t pass a major reform of our country’s HC system in the near future, the costs will cripple the economy and bankrupt the Federal Government.
And there is going to be a rapidly rising demand for change at the grass roots level. Blue Cross in CA is trying to raise their premiums by 37%(!) this year alone. About 1/3 of Americans have either no insurance or are dangerously underinsured. That should be a source of deep embarrassment to the wealthiest country on Earth. Given the economy and the hyperinflation in premiums being pushed by the Health Insurance Cartel within 5 to 10 years that number will likely exceed 50% of the population.
The breathtaking greed of that industry is ironically hastening its day of reckoning. There is only so long their bought and paid for lackeys in the GOP will be able to scare people with hysterical cries of “socialism!”
I just hope we deal with this before the country is brought to the brink of bankruptcy by these modern day robber barons.
It sounds like we’re in agreement, AO, although I hope a solution to the abortion issue can be found now so that we don’t have to start over again.
Of course, the media (with the nearly hysterical Maddow and Olbermann leading the way) want us ti believe that the liberals insisting on an abortion clause in health care reform are the good guys. It seems to me if they really give a damn about about health care reform and universal access to health care, they could be willing to compromise and figure out ways of appeasing their abortion allies with other approaches. That, of course, would be the truly compassionate way to proceed (and intelligent besides), but apparently we cannot assume intelligence or compassion from Mrs. Pelosi and her ideological allies. But then, we make a grave mistake assuming compassion or intelligence in politicians anyway.
From the FAQ at a typical [url=http://www.fpamg.net/faq.html]abortion clinic[/url] in California.
[blockquote]Question: What kind of insurance do you accept for abortion? Is it covered?
Answer: Yes, we accept most insurance plans. We will take your insurance information and benefits. [b]Most insurance plans do cover abortion services.[/b] [my emphasis] Your insurance plan may require that you pay a percentage of the fee for your services. In some cases you will need a referral or authorization from your doctor or health plan. Please contact your doctor or medical group to obtain your authorization. Prior to your appointment time, please check with us about the verification of your insurance benefits. In addition, we accept cash, all major credit cards, money orders or cashier checks and in California Medi-Cal.[/blockquote]
I am in complete sympathy with Christians who are opposed to health care reform on the grounds that it will pay for abortions. I would ask for consistency. If this is your reason for opposition, does your current health care insurance provide for abortion coverage? Do you know whether it does? If your employer’s health care insurance covers abortion, have you been consistent in refusing such coverage? Have you insisted on searching for and paying for your own coverage elsewhere from a company that does not provide abortion coverage rather than participate in a plan that provides such coverage? Have you considered finding another employer? Have you devoted as much time and energy to resisting, protesting against, and boycotting private insurance companies that currently provide abortion coverage as you have to resisting the current government plan?
So, William Witt, based on what you see as an inconsistency between what [i]private[/i] insurance contracts may cover, and that individuals can opt to use or not use, and what the current proposed “reform” plan would extend [i]involuntarily, with our tax dollars,[/i] what do you propose? That pro-life Christians simply do nothing to oppose this government-coerced evil, based on the existence of avoidable evil in the private sector?
Maybe we are engaging in hypocrisy here. But I fail to see where inconsistency in one corner of this issue should be construed as a bar to steadfastly opposing the expansion of a manifest evil in another sphere.
I do not see the distinction between voluntary private insurance contracts and the involuntary government plan. In both cases, the same private companies will be providing the same insurance with the same benefits. (Remember, there is no public option.)
I am not suggesting that pro-life Christians “do nothing.” At the same time, most pro-life Christians in this country already have health insurance, and they receive it from the same companies that will be providing it under the government plan. And I haven’t seen these same pro-life Christians complaining about their current access to health insurance provided by these companies. Perhaps I have missed something.
What I do see is a government plan that will demand that everyone have insurance from the same private companies that already provide health insurance to millions, including pro-life Christians.
I fail to see how opposing the current plan will change the policies of those companies, or the availability of abortion under their already existing insurance plans. It may prevent some who do not have health insurance now from being able to get it.
Just so long as it is voted down – abortion provides as fine a context as any of a dozen other very good reasons to kill this terrible implementation of HC reform.
Exactly, Dilbertnomore. There is MUCH in the current sausage that is the “reform” bill to reject in favor of better legislation. I’ve reached the point where I reject the notion of “let’s pass something, ANYTHING right now, just so we can say we did something” as a pretext for meaningful healthcare reform. I live and work in the system, so I know full well the warts.
And, Mr. Witt, the distinction IS that pro-life Christians, and others can at least shop among private insurance plans, or pressure their employers. I realize that this is easier said than done, but the possibility exists. And, I don’t need to exercise the abortion funding through a private plan, nor do I currently as an MD have to participate in providing elective abortion services. The current Senate bill is larded with pro-abortion subsidies and explicitly does not have the Stupak-Pitts amendment–Obama himself made sure that it did not. Nothing that Pelosi-Reid-Obama has said or supported encourages me that they or their fellow liberal Democrats would continue current federal bans on the use of taxpayer dollars for elective abortions, whether directly or through subsidies, mandates, or other “shell games,” or that they would uphold medical/nursing practitioner conscience clauses.
That’s why I fervently pray that this current monstrosity goes down in flames, and that, God willing, a sufficiently chastened administration would look at some meaningful INCREMENTAL reform measures, rather than its current “will to power” approach.