In all the discussion about whip counts it is easy to lose sight of what really counts and what the health care debate is really all about. It should come as little surprise that this is all about abortion, or more specifically about the federal funding of abortion.
However, conversely to what the media would have you believe, it is not primarily about Bart Stupak and a handful of pro-life Democrats holding up health-care reform. Rather, it is about the leadership of the Democrat party’s willingness to sacrifice their electoral livelihoods and/or health-care “reform” in order to make sure abortion is covered.
The real truth is that if health-care reform were the true overriding objective of President Obama and the Democrat leadership in Congress, then they could have passed this bill months ago. Instead, Democrats in the Senate refused to compromise on keeping the status quo—an over three decade prohibition on federal funds for abortion. If they had crafted language similar to the Stupak amendment in the House, which merely reflects the status quo, Obamacare would now be the law of the land.
They refused. Now again in the House, Nancy Pelosi has struggled for months to find votes for the bill. Even now, the Democrat leadership would rather risk their careers and blatantly violate the Constitution rather than give in on abortion and the Stupak language. This gives proof to the lie that Obamacare does not change current law on abortion and makes inexplicable the willingness of some Catholics to blindly accept this falsehood.
This bill is all about funding abortion. The Democrats understand that this may be the one chance in the next decade to get this done and they will not sacrifice it. They will sacrifice the Constitution and their own jobs, but not federally funded abortion.
I am not the only one who thinks so. Bart Stupak appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s show last night and stated that the Democrats know this is their opportunity. The Democrats have made clear they intend to throw out the baby, the only question is whether they are willing to throw out the bathwater to do it. It seems the answer is yes.
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Friends dismissed me as a “single issue voter” because I won’t vote for a pro-abortion candidate. I responded that Obama was a “single issue candidate” and will sacrifice everything for abortion. Sadly, he’s proven me right.
Even if abortion funding were removed, the entire concept of federally-run health care is gravely flawed from a truly Catholic perspective. It fundamentally (and intentionally) changes the relationship between the citizen and the State, and it violates the Catholic principle of Subsidiarity set forth by Pius XI in his encyclical Quadragesimo Anno. Central planning reduces the influence of the citizen and results in the individual being absorbed by the State. The main tenet of socialism, the “community of goods”, ultimately injures those whom it intends to benefit, is contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and introduces confusion and disorder into society. These are ideas that the Church, supposedly, rejects, but I get the feeling that the American bishops would support Obama’s bill were it not for abortion funding. All Catholics and all Constitution-minded Americans should oppose State-run health care on principle, with or without abortion funding. Can God bless a country that legally permits the killing of its most innocent, and then demands that its citizens fund the killing?
If this “reform” was truly about providing health insurance for those who cannot afford it, all that is is needed is to change the amount of earnings allowed under Medicaid rules. Simple, quick, easily accomplished. This is not now and never has been about health care reform. Mark, I agree completely
Its past time to acknowledge that abortion has done to this nation what slavery did. That’s not future tense, its past.
Dems/pro-aborts can’t & won’t back down on this because, like slavery, there’s too much money at stake. Abortion is big business that’s fueled by ideology. A very dangerous combination.
No matter how this “HealthCare CramDown” turns out this week. We’re only in the opening battle. Our lives, our families, our country and our Church will never be the same. I knew that on November 5, 2008.
This is a good analysis, Pat! As Terentia said, the health care solution is in many ways very easy. Also commented above, ObamaCare, even with abortion aside, is not a spectacular piece of legislation—or as one of my business-savvy cousins told me, “a fiscal disaster waiting to happen”. It’s exactly what Reagan and Thatcher worked not to have is the post-war and post-depression Anglo-American economies.
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