LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Monday, March 22, 2010
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Current Headlines
• House Passes Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill After Executive Order Deal
• Stupak Announces Abortion-Executive Order Deal, Pro-Life Democrats Back Bill
• Text of Executive Order on Abortion in Stupak-Obama-Democrats Health Care Comrpomise
• Pro-Life Groups Blast Executive Order Deal Between Stupak, Barack Obama
• Pro-Abortion Lawmakers, Activists Split on Stupak-Obama Abortion Funding Deal
• House Republican Leader John Boehner: Abortion-Executive Order Won't Work
• Catholic Bishops Join Pro-Life Groups Against Abortion-Executive Order Idea
• Bishops Tell House Lawmakers: Vote Against Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill
• Americans United for Life: Executive Order Won't Stop Abortion in Health Care
• Pro-Life Women's Group Strips Bart Stupak of Pro-Life Award After Abortion Deal
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House Passes Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill After Executive Order Deal
Before the votes, Rep. Bart Stupak negotiated a deal with pro-abortion President Barack Obama for an executive order that he says will nullify the abortion funding.
But, pro-life groups unanimously opposed the executive order saying they don't trust Obama and that technically it will fail in its attempt to stop the legislation's abortion funding. They say an executive order can't modify federal law and that abortions will be funded regardless of the content of the executive order.
"Unfortunately, this proposal does not begin to address the problem, which arises from decades of federal appellate rulings that apply the principles of Roe v. Wade to federal health legislation," Richard Doerflinger, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, explains.
"The executive order promised by President Obama was issued for political effect. It changes nothing," National Right to Life added. "It does not correct any of the serious pro-abortion provisions in the bill."
The top Republican in the House told Democrats prior to the vote that they should be clear the bill funds and promotes abortions.
"Make no mistake, a yes vote on the Democrats health care bill is a vote for taxpayer-funded abortions," he said.
Despite the abortion funding in the bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi twice referred to the right to "life" -- something Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest called a "horrible irony."
In an effort to get the abortion funding out of the bill, Republicans and a handful of Democrats pushed for a motion to send the bill back to committee to add an abortion funding ban. Stupak disagreed with the motion and surprised pro-life advocates by saying, "It is the Democrats who have stood up for the principle of no funding for abortion."
The motion ultimately failed 228-197 with 20 Democrats joining Republicans to support getting the abortion funding ban in the bill. Full story at LifeNews.com
Stupak Announces Abortion-Executive Order Deal, Pro-Life Democrats Back Bill
The executive order would reportedly make it so the Stupak amendment, which stopped abortion funding and promotion in the House version, would apply to the final law.
"I'm pleased to announce that we have an agreement -- with the help of the president and the Speaker -- we were able to come up with an agreement to protect the sanctity of life in health care reform," Stupak said.
"Today the president announced he will be signing," the executive order to "keep the principle" against funding of abortion.
Stupak said he thought Democrats already had the votes before he and other pro-life Democrats agreed to the executive order deal.
"I do believe they had the votes before we decided to vote for this legislation," Stupak said.
Meanwhile, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a statement that the executive order will restate what it believes are abortion funding limits in the bill -- disputed by every pro-life group.
While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards to ensure that the status quo is upheld and enforced, and that the health care legislation s restrictions against the public funding of abortions cannot be circumvented, he said. Full story at LifeNews.com
Text of Executive Order on Abortion in Stupak-Obama-Democrats Health Care Comrpomise
Pro-Life Groups Blast Executive Order Deal Between Stupak, Barack Obama
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins was clear in his opposition and said what many pro-life groups are thinking, that there could be consequences at the ballot box.
"Those few pro-life Democrats that would place the fate of the unborn in the hands of the President, will be placing their own political fate in those same hands secured only by a promise that runs counter to everything he has said and done," he told LifeNews.com.
He confirmed "there is no way that an executive order will protect the unborn or prevent the greatest expansion of elective abortion since Roe v. Wade. "Pro-life lawmakers would be making a serious mistake to trust those who have repeatedly attempted to mislead the American people into believing that abortion is not in the bill," he added.
FRC and other pro-life groups point to legal rulings during the Bush administration in the 1980s that make the executive order a failed solution to the abortion funding in the bill.
Court rulings in cases such as Commerce of U.S. v Reich and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld make it very clear that such an executive order likely wouldn't survive, Perkins contends.
National Right to Life issued a statement to LifeNews.com agreeing.
"The executive order promised by President Obama was issued for political effect. It changes nothing," NRLC said. "It does not correct any of the serious pro-abortion provisions in the bill. The president cannot amend a bill by issuing an order, and the federal courts will enforce what the law says." Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Abortion Lawmakers, Activists Split on Stupak-Obama Abortion Funding Deal
Leading pro-life organizations have said they don't trust Obama and that an executive order can't fix the abortion funding and promotion under the Senate health care bill.
But Rep. Jan Schakowsy, an Illinois Democrat who is a top pro-abortion activist in the House, told The Hill she's fine with it.
"Assuming that there's no final, final, final, final shenanigans that go on with the Stupak people, I think we're OK," she said. "A number of us saw some language -- proposed language -- for an executive order," Schakowsky said. "Nothing that goes beyond current law would be acceptable to us."
Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, the head of the pro-abortion faction in the House, appeared to yield the point pro-life gorups were making when she said, according to AP, "it doesn't change anything."
That view is much different than the reaction from NARAL and Planned Parenthood.
Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, complained about the arrangement, but appeared to split between pro-abortion lawmakers and pro-abortion activist groups.
We regret that a pro-choice president of a pro-choice nation was forced to sign an Executive Order that further codifies the proposed anti-choice language in the health care reform bill," she said, even though the bill allows abortion funding already with virtually no limits. Full story at LifeNews.com
House Republican Leader John Boehner: Abortion-Executive Order Won't Work
Several pro-life groups have already spoke out against the idea, that would have Rep. Bart Stupak and several pro-life Democrats give Nancy Pelosi 216 votes for the measure in exchange for an order to ban abortion funding in it.
The law of the land trumps any Executive Order, which can be reversed or altered at the stroke of a pen by this or any subsequent President without any congressional approval or notice," Boehner said.
"Moreover, while an Executive Order can direct members of the executive branch, it cannot direct the private sector," he added.
Opposition to the idea comes in part because technically it won't work to authentically ban abortion funding and can easily be reversed.
Because of Roe v. Wade, courts have interpreted the decision as a statutory mandate that the government must provide federal funding for elective abortion in through federal programs. In other words, no Executive Order or regulation can override a statutory mandate unless Congress passes a law that prohibits federal funding from being used in this manner," Boehner explained. Full story at LifeNews.com
Catholic Bishops Join Pro-Life Groups Against Abortion-Executive Order Idea
Leading pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak is pursuing the executive order because he wants to ban abortion funding under the bill but also because he wants to be able to eventually vote for it.
The main objections from pro-life advocacy groups center on two points.
First, they have sincere doubts about whether Obama, who has an extensive pro-abortion track record and used an executive order during his first week in office to expand taxpayer funding of abortions, would ever sign one.
Secondly, they point out technical problems with the idea, saying an executive order is not able to remedy the numerous ways in which the Senate bill funds and promotes abortion funding.
Richard Doerflinger, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, shared those concerns in a memo sent this morning to key Congressional members and staff.
"We've consulted with legal experts on the specific idea of resolving the abortion funding problems in the Senate bill through executive order. We know members have been looking into this in good faith, in the hope of limiting the damage done by abortion provisions in the bill," Doerflinger says. Full story at LifeNews.com
Bishops Tell House Lawmakers: Vote Against Pro-Abortion Senate Health Care Bill
The bishops urged the House of Representatives to fix pro-abortion flaws in health care legislation or vote against its passage in a late Saturday letter to House members that LifeNews.com received.
"We as bishops continue to insist that health care reform which truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all is a moral imperative and urgent national priority," they wrote. "We are convinced that the Senate legislation now presented to the House of Representatives on a 'take it or leave it' basis sadly fails this test and ought to be opposed."
Health care reform must protect life and conscience, not threaten them, the letter continues.
"The Senate bill extends abortion coverage, allows federal funds to pay for elective abortions (for example, through a new appropriation for services at Community Health Centers that bypasses the Hyde amendment), and denies adequate conscience protection to individuals and institutions," the bishops explain. Full story at LifeNews.com
Americans United for Life: Executive Order Won't Stop Abortion in Health Care
AUL president Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews.com, "the proposal to address the problem of abortion funding in the health care bill through use of an executive order is a tacit acknowledgement that the bill as it stands is pro-abortion legislation."
"Both the President and the Speaker have repeatedly denied this stark fact," she said.
"Furthermore, the AUL legal team has concluded that an executive order is not an adequate fix to mitigate the Senate bill s establishment of taxpayer-funded abortion. For example, an executive order cannot prevent insurance companies that pay for abortions in the exchanges from receiving federal subsidies," Yoest adds.
"In addition, executive orders can be undone or modified as quickly as they are created. President Obama revoked the Mexico City Policy, through the use of an executive order, and thereby allowed federal tax dollars to finance organizations that provide abortions internationally for the first time in years," she continued. Full story at LifeNews.com
Pro-Life Women's Group Strips Bart Stupak of Pro-Life Award After Abortion Deal
Stupak announced earlier today that he arranged an executive order with Obama to nullify the abortion funding in the pro-abortion Senate health care bill.
But, pro-life groups say the deal is worthless because an executive order can't be used to modify federal law, which will be changed under the Senate bill to allow abortion funding.
Saying it plans to "drive out" of Congress the pro-life betrayers who vote for the pro-abortion health care bill, the Susan B. Anthony List told LifeNews.com that Stupak will lose its "Defender of Life" award the group planned to give to Stupak at its annual dinner gala this coming week.
"This Wednesday night is our third annual Campaign for Life Gala, where we were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform," SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews.com.
"We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country," she said. Full story at LifeNews.com
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