RSS
Home
Democrats to kill abortion amendment
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
For the first time, in a long time, there is actually some tangibility to the abortion debate in this country. Yes, after years of Democrats dodging around the issue by saying they don't approve of abortions, but favor a woman's right to choose (the same way they supported the troops but still were rooting against them in Iraq and Afghanistan) Democrats in the House were forced to vote whether they would support government-subsidized abortions as part of the new health care bill.
In an amendment to the House's health care bill, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) proposed an amendment which essentially prohibits abortion coverage in the public insurance option included in the House bill and prevent private plans from offering coverage for abortion services if they accept people who are receiving government subsidies.
Sixty-four Democrats supported the amendment, and in turn the entire health care bill, which gave Speaker Nancy Pelosi the votes it needed to pass (220-215).
While some can chalk the Stupak amendment up as a victory to pro-life Republicans, ultimately it means nothing.
In an article from The Hill, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the Democrats’ chief deputy whip in the House, said that she and other pro-abortion rights lawmakers would work to strip the amendment included in the House health bill that bars federal funding from subsidizing abortions.
Pelosi has also insinuated that the amendment will be thrown out of committee, while President Obama said he'd like the language of the bill adjusted so that "neither side feels that it's being betrayed." Gee, why would anyone feel betrayed, just because they voted for the bill based on this amendment, and then watched as it was discarded like a blob of unwanted...paper? What would ever give them that idea?
Going even further, let's remove reality from the situation and say the Senate version of the bill has a similar anti-abortion stipulation, and the amendment isn't stripped out of the final version. The health care bill passes to much fanfare, with a stipulation against government coverage of abortions. Well, eventually someone on the public plan is going to be denied coverage for her abortion, sue, find a sympathetic liberal judge and have the amendment overruled anyway. If Democrats can find the right to abortion hidden somewhere in the text of the Constitution, they'll have no trouble finding a loophole in this 2,000-page behemoth of a health care bill.
Still, in the end, at least all but 64 Democratic representatives will have to go back home and campaign next fall with this vote hanging around their necks. You can imagine how many TV commercials will prominently feature "Democrat X supported government-funded abortions." They can try to twist their words as much as they want, but this vote is tangible evidence to be used for or against Democrats in the voting booths.
So maybe, eventually, this vote will make a difference after all.
Related Articles:
Comments
