Life Advocacy Briefing

Here Comes ‘Baucus’?

THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE IS EXPECTED TO VOTE TOMORROW, Tuesday, Oct. 13, on the legislation the panel has been cobbling together for the takeover of medical care in America. That may be overstating it, as it appears the committee will actually vote on “concepts” rather than on specific legislative language, a questionable way of doing the people’s business, to say the least.

Three committee members are considered key: GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME) and Democratic Senators Blanche Lincoln (AR) and Bill Nelson (FL). They can be contacted via the Capitol switchboard at 1-202/224-3121 and should be called even by those who have already offered input.  Sen. Snowe is considered especially pivotal, but all three are important.

Senate Democrats scored a point last week in their drive to socialize medicine when the supposedly nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the massive spending plan would not add to the deficit. Rather than highlighting the tax hikes which allowed such an analysis, the national news media focused on the sigh of relief offered by characters like Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), who had feared what CBO would say but when it came, grabbed the CBO figleaf like a lifeline rescuing their scheme.

But the outrageous cost is not the only problem with ObamaCare. The fundamental idea is anti-American, and every one of the five pending proposals puts the federal government – and thereby the taxpayers – into the business of underwriting the killing of Americans at the dawn of life and pushing aside disabled and elderly Americans whose care would cost “too much” for the government to bear.

In a rational republic, this fight would be not only winnable but already over. These are not ordinary times. Victory is attainable but only by sustained, repeated, yea constant outpouring of public opinion against the atrocity being pounded out on Capitol Hill by those whose claim to “representation” is as phony as the most horrific Hallowe’en costume.

As the late Sen. Everett M. Dirksen sagely said, “If you want to make them see the light, you’ve got to make them feel the heat.” We would add: again, again and yet again. And then again.

Speak Up Again!

FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL’s ACTION ARM HAS POSTED A PETITION on its Internet website at www.frcaction.org asserting, “abortion should not be considered health care.”

“Please sign our petition letting Congressional leaders and the White House know,” wrote FRC Action president Tony Perkins in an FRC Action Alert, “that you insist that your tax dollars not be used to cover abortion and that healthcare legislation must explicitly exclude abortion coverage.

“The petitions will be delivered,” pledged Mr. Perkins, “to Senate Majority Leader Reid, Speaker of the House Pelosi and the White House on Friday, Oct. 16.” One more way to make our voices heard.

‘Medical Research’

PLANNED PARENTHOOD HAS BEEN CONDUCTING ‘CLINICAL TRIALS’ on customers including girls as young as 13, reports American Life League’s (ALL’s) Jim Sedlak.

“Twenty-eight Planned Parenthood affiliates have been involved in 33 clinical trials – some government funded,” reports Mr. Sedlak in an ALL news release. Of those 33, ten “involved young girls. Two of the 33 trials ended in the 1990s; the remaining 31 were conducted in the last seven years, and many are still ongoing. …

“Two of the trials in which girls as young as 14 participated,” reports ALL, “dealt with getting the girls to take birth control consistently by sending them text message reminders.”

Notes Mr. Sedlak, who is ALL’s Stop PP specialist, “In most states, minor girls involved in sexual activity is considered sex abuse and is illegal.”

“Other PP clinical trials involve African-American girls as young as 13,” notes ALL, “and trials to increase the use of ‘emergency contraception’ (the morning-after pill regimen) among girls as young as 14.

“The nation’s largest abortion business is also involved in trials,” reports ALL, “on medical abortion techniques, birth control techniques, pain reduction during abortion, sterilization and IUD insertion, and a trial assessing the safety and efficacy of a new emergency contraceptive known as Ella.” ALL reports also PP involvement in HIV-related trials.

Chicago Shelters Abortionists

AT THE SAME TIME THAT CHICAGO’s CITY FATHERS ARE CAMPAIGNING to overcome a shocking epidemic of violence against children, the City Council has passed a “bubble-zone” ordinance barring pro-life sidewalk counselors from approaching within eight feet of anyone in a zone within 50 feet of the entrances to any medical facility in the city. Violators would be subject to a $500 fine. The vote was 28 to 13, with nine not voting.

Sponsoring alderman Vi Daley said, report Chicago Tribune writers Dan Mihalopoulos and Kristen Schorsch, she introduced the ordinance “after complaints from officials of a Near North Side Planned Parenthood facility” where abortions are committed. (It’s no wonder the PP shop operators were alarmed; four babies were reportedly saved at that facility in recent weeks during the 40 Days for Life abortuary prayer vigil.)

A sidewalk counselor told the Tribune “she counsels women out of abortions, meaning lost revenue for clinic operators,” write Mr. Mihalopoulos and Ms. Schorsch. “‘We’re not aggressive,’ she said. ‘We’re clever. We’re bad for business.’”

One of the “no” voters, Ald. Ariel Reboyras, explained his vote to the Tribune reporters: “‘Pastors from the community called, and they said they were against it, and I followed their lead on it.’” (Oh, Clergy, do you see what a difference you make when you take a stand?)

Pro-life citizens can only hope now that Mayor Richard Daley (no relation to the sponsoring alderman) will break with his usual allies and veto the measure, which, if signed, will take effect Nov. 17. (Mayor’s Office: 1-312/744-3300.)

The Chicago-based Thomas More Society pro-life law firm plans to sue the city if the mayor does give the ordinance his signature, according to executive director Peter Breen. Even the leftwing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) actively opposed the ordinance as an abridgment of the Constitution’s free speech guarantees.

Unsafe for Moms, Too

CUSTOMERS WHO PATRONIZE PLANNED PARENTHOOD in southern California seem to be at elevated risk these days for what may well be serious complications.

Eyewitnesses reported last week that an abortion “patient” at the Riverside PP “was rushed to the hospital by ambulance” on Oct. 3, reports Operation Rescue in a news release. “This is the third reported emergency transport from a southern California PP abortion clinic within the past three weeks,” notes OR. Similar incidents “occurred at the Planned Parenthood in Orange, California, on Sept. 16 and 26. …

“‘Three medical emergencies in three weeks tells us,’” said OR president Troy Newman in the release, “‘that these PP abortion mills are experiencing some grave internal problems. Whatever their problems are,’” he said, “‘they are placing the lives of women at risk.’”

Mr. Newman noted that sidewalk counselors at the abortuaries have been able to deter some mothers from entering to kill their babies by handing them flyers documenting the ambulance incidents and warning they could be next.

“‘We want to encourage pro-lifers as they stand outside their local abortion clinics to be prepared to document incidents by always having a camera,’ said [Mr.] Newman. ‘The pictures taken by alert sidewalk counselors just a few days ago are now saving lives and warning women of the dangers of abortion. We have never seen a safe abortion clinic,’” he said.

Quotable

National Right to Life legislative director Douglas Johnson rebutting a pro-Capps Amendment commentary by the leftwing Center for American Progress (“Capps” being the mock-Hyde Amendment to HR-3200, which actually seals abortion coverage into the medical care takeover proposal while pretending to limit it): “In recent days, more than 30 House Democrats have written to Speaker Pelosi to point out that the Capps Amendment just won’t do. The House Democratic leadership now has some people working on gluing on some additional trim and accessories so that they can try to peddle Capps II as a new model. But under the hood, it will still be the same old clunker.”

Quotable, Too

NRL’s Douglas Johnson analyzing a Denver Post story on the pending healthcare takeover plan: “Take special note of this sentence: ‘Democratic leaders, including Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, are trying to work out a compromise with a small group of anti-abortion Democrats that would strengthen the Capps Amendment language but fall short of the wholesale restrictions [Rep. Bart] Stupak and allies want.’ Translation: Speaker Pelosi and [Mr.] Waxman are working on cosmetic changes to the Capps Amendment, which they will then try to peddle as an even-more-generous ‘compromise’ by the pro-abortion side (but which in reality will put the federal government into the elective abortion business in both the public plan and the premium subsidy program). In any such new twist on the Waxman-Capps scam, we can expect that a prominent role will be assigned to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who impersonates a pro-life Congressman but who actually does the bidding of Planned Parenthood, Third Way and Nancy Pelosi.”

Compromising Life

Oct. 6, 2009, Washington Update by Tony Perkins for Family Research Council

Just days ago, a new Pew Research Center poll showed support for abortion at an all-time low. The survey was one in a long line of polls that’s reporting how unpopular the procedure has become under the most pro-abortion President in American history. Less than half of the public – 47% – now think abortion should be legal in all or most cases, down from 54% last year. Over the past few months, abortion has taken a hit in almost every major demographic. And those numbers don’t even take into account the whopping number of taxpayers who oppose funding it.

Across the nation, there’s a pro-life undercurrent that seems to be carrying away everyone but Congress. Instead of adapting to this new anti-abortion climate, what does the Congressional majority do? Try harder to fund it. As we speak, Members of the House are working on a second abortion “compromise” in the healthcare bill – led by one of the most militant pro-choicers [sic] in the chamber. This week, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has been tasked with peeling support away from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who announced last week that he had commitments from 40 Democrats to vote against any healthcare bill that doesn’t include an outright ban on taxpayer-funded abortion. To win back some of his party, Waxman is putting together a second abortion “compromise” to follow up on the controversial Capps Amendment.

As the Denver Post pointed out, Democrats will probably try to tighten the Capps language without including the blanket restrictions that Stupak wants. Although House liberals and the original amendment would only allow private funds to pay for abortion, even the New York Times called it a fraud. According to the paper, “In practice, the public and private money would all go into the same pot, and the source of money for any single procedure is largely a technicality.” That’s not good enough for Rep. Stupak and House Republicans. “The Capps Amendment says at least one plan [participating] in a federal health insurance exchange] must provide abortion coverage and must have one that doesn’t have it,” [Rep. Stupak] told US News and World Report. “For the first time ever, federal policy is saying that abortion is a covered service.” In other words, what happens on Life in the next few days is crucial. …

‘Completely Unacceptable’

Oct. 7, 2009, major excerpts from Americans United for Life Action’s action appeal on the Senate Finance Committee’s “healthcare reform” proposal

… The Baucus bill is completely unacceptable to pro-lifers. It requires the government to spend $6 billion establishing co-ops that could cover abortion. The bill would also enable individuals to receive refundable, advanceable tax credits to purchase health insurance that covers abortion and require at least one plan in each premium rating area to cover abortion.

… Only an explicit exclusion of abortion funding and coverage can prevent administrative agencies and the courts from mandating abortion funding and coverage in healthcare legislation.

The abortion lobby keeps saying the Hyde Amendment takes care of our concerns; but the Hyde Amendment is attached to each year’s Medicaid funding bill and doesn’t apply to the new proposals.

Even worse, when an amendment like the Hyde Amendment was proposed [in committee] …, it was defeated by a vote of 10-13. The Committee also defeated an amendment … that would have prevented discrimination against any individual or organization that refused to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.

Next the Senate Finance Committee bill will be reconciled with the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee healthcare reform bill in the Senate back rooms, while the House reconciles the amendments added in three different committees to the House Bill (HR-3200).

At this key moment in healthcare reform, your Senators and Congressman are hearing confusing rhetoric about abortion funding and coverage as debate moves from committee rooms to back rooms. They are being told by the Democratic leadership that the Capps Amendment added to HR-3200 and incorporated into the Senate Finance bill is a pro-life compromise, when in reality, it is a pro-abortion approach in disguise.

You need to tell your Congressman that the “Capps Amendment approach” is not a compromise and that “only putting ‘Hyde’ in[to] health care will be acceptable.”

… Many news sources are reporting that politicians are starting to fear the repercussions of offending pro-life voters, especially after a new Pew Research poll shows that Americans’ support for legalized abortion has dropped dramatically since Pres. Obama took office. You can make a difference by letting your elected representatives know you are among the millions of Americans who believe that “Real Health Care Respects Life.”

Permission granted to quote with attribution. Reproduction rights granted only by express authorization.