Barack Obama--the anti-life president

The State Run Media is very slowly coming around to the fact that President Barack Obama is not the Messiah.  It will take many more months, but they'll get there eventually.

But some things will never change.  The SRM will always hate those who stand up for innocent life.  And you can bet that even when they come out of their Obama-induced hallucinogenic haze, they will never divert their criticism toward him, the pro-choice crowd or the rest of the liberal left on life issues.

Obama's increasingly obvious rabidly anti-life positions and actions are making this a reality. And I use the term "anti-life" deliberately because there is no other way to explain the following partial list of positions, promises, votes and appointments.

Let's start in 1997.  Illinois State Senator Obama voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion.  In 2001, Obama voted against the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act.  Similarly to Chicken Little, Obama, the only senator to speak on the floor against the bill, harangued that the bill would forbid abortions altogether.

In July 2006, Obama opposed a bill to prohibit taking minors across state lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions.  He voted “no” despite the fact that the bill contained an exception to save the life of the minor.

When speaking before a Planned Parenthood conference in 2007, Obama said his first act as president would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (“FOCA”), a radical piece of legislation that many predict would lead to more than 100,000 additional abortions every year.  The Act also would remove barriers from public funding of abortions and some suggest religious hospitals could lose tax exempt status under the Act if they fail to provide abortion services. 

In March 2008, Obama voted (i) against a bill to increase funding for the vigorous enforcement of a prohibition against taking minors across state lines to circumvent parental notification and involvement laws, and (ii) against modifying the definition of “child” in the SCHIP program to include unborn children.  During the 2008 campaign, Obama notably remarked that he would not want his own daughters “punished” with a baby from a so-called crisis pregnancy.  As U.S. Senator, Obama received 100% ratings from NARAL and also consistently supported expanding the study and use of embryonic stem cells.

As President-elect, Obama appointed former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius—also a supporter of late-term abortions—to head Health and Human Services, the agency from which Obama’s health care reform plan would eventually flow. 

Then, in January 2009, one day after the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Obama signed an executive order reversing a ban on giving federal funds (i.e. your tax dollars) to international groups that perform abortions.  This issue was so important to Obama that he executed the order in his first days in office.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on record supporting the notion that “reproductive health” includes “access to abortion” so we can now expect aggressive promotion and funding of abortion overseas.  How's that for stimulus?

Admittedly, Obama did not fulfill the promise of signing FOCA upon taking office and the legislation remains unsigned.  In case you haven’t noticed, he’s been a little busy destroying the economy and insulting our allies.  But that has not stopped him from making much more subtle moves to promote his anti-life agenda.  Let’s not forget that Obama recently appointed Dr. John Holdren to the position formerly known as the White House “Science Czar”.  Holdren is infamous for co-authoring a disgusting textbook called Ecoscience wherein he suggests that “The State”, among other things, could force women to abort their pregnancies, sterilize the population by intentionally lacing the nation’s drinking water or food supplies with infertility drugs, and seize babies from single and teen mothers against their will.  Holdren has yet to renounce these ideas.

Scary?  Sure is.  But it's another window into what drives the liberal radically pro-choice left.

Health care reform is certainly on the front burner with Obama’s desire to get coverage for all Americans pushed through before Congress’ summer recess.  Sebelius, Holdren, Clinton and Rahm Emanuel are among his chosen advisors with the goal of entirely remaking the health insurance industry and centralizing control and/or oversight and regulation.  They deny it, but that's the truth.  For example, Obama’s proposed universal minimum-benefits package, required for every health plan, will cover (broadly, and among other things) “out-patient” hospital and clinic treatment and procedures.

If you believe it’s a stretch to include Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in the “out-patient clinic” category, think again.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is partly responsible for drafting the legislation to reform health care.  What will happen if the legislation passes is that the government agency responsible for implementing it (something to be called the “Health Resources and Services Administration” or “HRSA”) will draft administrative rules and regulations consistent with the intent of the legislation.  The HRSA will by virtually unaccountable to the public because it likely will be staffed by civil servants and career bureaucrats.

In a hearing of the committee last Thursday, Senator Barbara Mikulski, D-MD, a staunch liberal and abortion supporter, offered an amendment to require all health insurance companies to provide “preventive care and screening” for “pregnant women and individuals of child-bearing age.”  You won’t see the word “abortion” anywhere in the amendment.  However, Mikulski’s use of these words is purposefully vague enough so as to give a green light to the HRSA to draft rules to require coverage of abortions as “preventive care”.  Don’t believe it?  She as much as said so in committee.

This type of amendment would not have been inserted without approval from the White House.  You can be sure that Rahm Emanuel and other Obama surrogates are the real source behind the language and Mikulski is the all-too-willing messenger.  If you want to make abortion—including partial birth abortion—a mandated “covered benefit,” what better (and more insidious) way to do it than to mask it in vague language and let the unaccountable administrative agency draft the rules.

It’s called plausible deniability.

But it’s just the latest in a long list of evidence proving that Obama has his radical anti-life agenda at the policy forefront and on the legislative and regulatory fast track.