Pro-life conservatives stupified by the Stupak Amendment

November 9, 10:21 AMDenver Roman Catholic ExaminerTheresa Navarra

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    AP/Alex Brandon House passes health care bill

(Please accept my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families of our fallen heroes by jihad terror on our own soil at Fort Hood. May God be with you in your precious losses of America's best. My prayers are with you and all of our courageous soldiers who fight for our liberty and security and our freedoms. It is a coward and a traitor that kills unarmed and unsuspecting fellow soldiers as they walk amongst our troops at home. Every one of them is a true hero regardless of where they died. Thank you for your sacrifice.)

The U.S. Catholic Bishops worked with members of the House of Representatives to reform health care in America. They wanted a vote for the Stupak Amendment. Their letter states that the amendment "will keep in place current federal law on abortion funding and conscience protections in the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962)." http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-229.shtml

Pro-life Catholics and other Christian conservatives across the country have been sent e-mail letters by several pro-life conservative organizations urging us to contact our representatives, and to let them know that we do not want a health care bill that does not include the Stupak Amendment. The majority of Americans do not agree with federal funding of abortion. Initially, this amendment appeared to be our answer, adding the desired moral legislation to the house bill.

In Archbishop Chaput's column in the Denver Catholic Register, Catholics have been cautioned repeatedly about the several versions of the health care bills that have been coming forward which are worded in obfuscating language that can easily be used to support a pro-death agenda.

Archbishop Chaput recently wrote, "The president's support for a federal 'right' to abortion is a matter of record.  Like it or not, voters can assume that he'll appoint judges who share that view.  Therefore, the main concern of his “pro-choice” constituency is safe under his leadership.  This is bad news for the rest of us, but it does give the White House room to compromise.  Excluding abortion funding from the president's health-care efforts - I mean really excluding it and not sneaking it in under the cover of some bureaucratic shell game—would be an easy concession for Congress and the White House to make.  It's a modest price to pay for Catholic and similar pro-life support, or at least their neutrality.  It might also put some meat on the bones of Washington's talk about 'common ground.'" http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/2852

Likewise, Bishop Conley has called the proposed health care reform legislation in these bills (without the amendment) "inadequate", "baffling", "insulting", and "dangerous."

Bishop Conley recently wrote in his column that: "For all of Congress’ public talk about “consensus building” and “consensus health care,” Washington has proved once again that hearing loss can be job-related. Most American Catholics, from people in the pews to pastors and bishops, want healthcare reform to work. But too many people in Washington don’t know how to listen, or don’t want to listen, or just don't care."

Proudly pro-choice Catholic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, pulled off a slim win with the socialist health care bill last night (11/7/09). Ms. Pelosi relented to allow a vote on the Stupak Amendment. This health care bill would not have passed the House without the Stupak Amendment being passed first.

We have all won then, haven't we? In a word: NO.   Here's why:

Even with the amendment, the health care bill, that includes the government option, barely passed 220 to 215. 39 democrats had the good sense to vote against the health care bill. The majority of the good people of America do not want the government take over, er, option. In fact, only a single republican voted for the bill. Obviously, it is not truly a bipartisan bill at all.

Waste, fraud, and abuse is what we have now with our government health care system, even according to liberal democrats. Fraud-plagues-government-health-care insights are here. Let the government fix the programs that are already in place to help those in need. We must insist on that. Refuse to give this government any more power over our lives than they already have. To submit ourselves to this level of control is to consent to become a willing slave. Whenever anyone has a health issue, you will need extra appointments, government-granted permission, and bureaucracy-laden guidance and direction--from the government?

You may find that you disagree with a certain government policy once it applies to you, but this is no longer about a professional medical opinion by doctors who are interested in your condition, if this bill becomes the law of the land. It will be the government's time-delayed approval or rejection of critical services and costs that will decide your fate. There is absolutely no competition, nor second opinion with what will become a single-payer system.

Where is our freedom and liberty? Where is our choice and our privacy? Yes, even privacy goes. Our privacy isn't something that much has been written about. Yet, without a doubt, federally-mandated health care must allow the government to be privy to all of our personal, health, and financial information--just as Medicaid and Medicare now require of their clients.

The promise to meet all of our medical needs without any limit is coming from the left. American citizens were promised, among other things that have not come to be, to be able to see televised health care negotiations, and to have 5 days for the public to comment on bills before they are signed into law.

Did I say that?

The only promises this administration knows how to keep are those that result in championing their own socialistic, communistic, and pro-death agenda.

The Stupak Amendment was used to get this health care bill passed in the House. As RNC Chairman Michael Steele stated, the Stupak Amendment can be removed prior to the upcoming Senate vote. According to Mr. Steele, this amendment can be very easily removed without public knowledge in a house-senate conference committee following the Senate vote. It would then go back to be voted on in both houses, where the bill is given an up or down vote on the entire conference product with NO further changes permitted. More Steele here.

Well-meaning conservative, pro-life Americans need to understand that the mantra of the liberals and lefties presently in control of our country today is "change you can BELIEVE in." They understand the human condition to believe in something. It does not matter if it is true or false, only that the words are hope-inspiring, pretty and pacifying. If we continue to "believe" their lies and allow their manipulation, it will be to our US citizens' individual peril, and it will bring about the demise of our great country.

The Stupak Amendment did not help us. It only helped to get a health care bill that includes the government option passed in the House. The problem IS the government option. The government option will put us into even more national debt and destroy our economy.

Senator Joe Lieberman is prepared to join a Republican filibuster to prevent a government takeover of health care because he knows that doing "nothing" is better than having "the government going into the health insurance business, I think it's such a mistake that I would use the power I have as a single senator to stop a final vote."

It is our responsibility as citizens of the United States of America to do our part in determining the action that our government takes and the direction of our country in serving it's people. It only takes a couple of minutes to stand up and take some vital action to make your views known. Write and call your Senators, and tell them that you will not accept what the liberal democrats repackage with deceptive words, including a "public option," a "consumer option,"and a "competitive option." Call and write your Senators and tell them to "Kill the bill!" Click "find your senators", make your selection from the drop down box, and click "go" for contact information.

Lindsey Graham: Reform "D.O.A." In Senate, Public Option "A Disaster"