If there was any doubt that the health care bill included taxpayer-funding of abortion, those doubts are now laid to rest. The Obama Administration has not tried to hide their radical abortion agenda and are now moving into action—starting with full coverage for all legal abortion in Pennsylvania. We’ve got to continue our fight against the expansion of abortion through health care reform.
We have been together through the entire health care battle, and I implore you not to give up now. Unborn children in Pennsylvania and across the country need us more than ever.
There is hope in our wonderful pro-life heroes in Congress like Reps. Chris Smith and Michele Bachmann who have been fighting tirelessly to defend unborn boys and girls. Rep. Joe Pitts has even sponsored the pro-life Protect Life Act, which would repeal the abortion funding in the health care bill. But, in order to advance legislation like the Protect Life Act and fight this $160 million dollar abortion giveaway, we need your financial support. Please give whatever you can right now.
May God bless you as we work together to fight the Culture of Death and the expansion of abortion across our nation.
Sincerely,
Marjorie Dannenfelser
President, Susan B. Anthony List
http://www.sba-list.org
P.S. Prior to the health care vote, Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3) said she would represent the pro-life majority in her district. But it was clear she was playing politics. Pennsylvanians now know they are being forced to pay for abortions with their own money. Rep. Dahlkemper and the Obama administration said the executive order would prevent taxpayers from having to pay for abortion, but this Pennsylvania insurance pool program proves that that was a false promise. Donate now and help us defeat faux “pro-life” representatives like Kathy Dahlkemper.
Womb of the Unknown Soldier
The military may want to limit civilian casualties, but Senate Democrats are doing everything they can to increase them. When they trek back to Washington next week, members will take another crack at taxpayer-funded abortions--this time on foreign and domestic military installations. If they succeed, it would be the government’s second largest expansion of abortion this year. And, like the health care law, it will be just as unpopular.
If there’s one thing liberals should have learned from ObamaCare, it’s that forcing Americans into the abortion business is a lesson in what-not-to-do before a major election. Dragging taxpayers into another debate on an issue in which their views are consistently ignored will only reinforce their bitterness about the current Congress. It will also expose President Obama for the imposter that he is. If he signs a bill that turns our military hospitals into abortion clinics, it will destroy the last scrap of credibility he has on this issue. As Bob Maginnis points out in his new op-ed, President Obama signed an Executive Order meant to reassure voters that federal funds wouldn’t be used to pay for abortions. Attaching his name to this bill would violate that trust in a very public way.
In the meantime, Democrats will try to argue that overturning the 1996 ban on military abortions wouldn’t cost Americans anything. Nice try, writes Maginnis. Apart from the actual abortion fee, there’s no telling how many hundreds of thousands of dollars would be spent outfitting the current facilities with new equipment, staffs, extra beds, transportation, office space, medicine, sanitation, and the list goes on. And since the military is a relatively conservative group, it would be nearly impossible to find personnel who are willing to perform the procedure. That’s one reason why President Bill Clinton’s abortion experiment failed after three years in the military. The armed services couldn’t identify enough people to participate in his anti-life agenda. Instead, they had to hire what were essentially abortion mercenaries, outside contractors who would provide the procedure at--you guessed it--taxpayer expense. And by expanding the policy to U.S. facilities, military hos pitals wouldn’t be bound by parental involvement laws or other pro-life laws in the state the base is located. The bottom line is that our troops’ mission is to protect all innocents--including the unborn.
Meanwhile, as the Senate tries to destroy the next generation of soldiers, President Obama is still intent on demoralizing the current ones. When Congress returns, so too will the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” debate. This week, the Pentagon emailed a formal survey to 400,000 U.S. troops, asking servicemen to weigh in on the policy and how they would feel about sharing quarters or open-bay showers with homosexuals. Other questions touched on whether the repeal would affect their willingness to serve or affect morale. On last night’s “Situation Room,” CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Lawrence Korb of the ultra-liberal Center for American Progress, who said that surveying the military is “a terrible idea because really what you’re doing is giving the troops the impression that they can change the policy or a lter the policy. Also, if you go back you take a look at how the troops felt about other social changes, [like] integrating African-Americans… had you taken a survey of those things, and you paid attention to it, those things would have never happened.”
Apart from implying that 50s soldiers were racists, CAP can’t seem to understand the major difference between now and then: a little thing called the draft. This is a volunteer military, and if retention drops as a result of this social experiment, then America may have no choice but to force people into service. Sort of an important question, don’t you think?
Something Berwicked This Way Comes…
Recess is usually a time for game-playing--and in Washington, it’s no different. With Congress out of his hair for the week, President Obama couldn’t resist hiring another radical socialist for one of the most important jobs in America. Knowing that many in his party wouldn’t support him, the President used a recess appointment to force Dr. Don Berwick into the top spot at Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). By sidestepping the confirmation process, the White House also avoided a messy public debate over Berwick’s fanatical support for “death panels” and rationing.
To justify the move, the President’s communications director said Republicans were stalling the nomination--but, as everyone with any political sense knows, the GOP couldn’t stall Berwick if they wanted to! Under Senate rules, the majority controls the committees. So it’s the Democrats--not Republicans--who decide when to hold hearings and schedule votes. They refused to do either, which should indicate just how offensive this nominee is. FRC has fought his appointment since the White House originally floated his name. As the head of CMS, Berwick will be in charge of almost a trillion dollars in benefits, not including the massive expansions of Medicaid under the new health care law. And just to give you an idea of how powerful his post will be, the Senate Republican Policy Committee explains that CMS is larger than all but 15 of the world’s economies.
Obviously, the President’s decision to seat Berwick without so much as a hearing is shocking for a job of this magnitude. “It’s nearly unprecedented for an administration to recess appoint [someone] that has not even come up for a hearing. It’s unfortunate that President Obama saw fit to take this extraordinary step,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), “and appoint an individual charged with overseeing a benefits budget larger than the economies of Denmark, South Africa, and Israel combined without so much as a hearing to examine his views.”
So what are these “views” that the White House is so desperate to cover up? For one, Berwick is a socialist. He was caught on video suggesting that “any health care funding plan that is just… must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer...” Secondly, he thinks it’s cheaper to let sick patients die than provide care. “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care,” he said last year, “the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.” He is, in his own words, “romantic” about nationalized health care, particularly Britain’s system. He despises free market capitalism. And the list goes on and on.
Congress is right to be outraged. Senators like Tom Barrasso (R-Wy.) were stunned to learn that while they’re on vacation, President Obama gave Berwick the keys to one of the biggest federal agencies in the country. “Because this post administers the Medicare program, it touches virtually every senior in America ...” he said. “This recess appointment proves [that Obama] did not have the support of a majority of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate… Once again, [the President] is going behind closed doors out of fear the American people will learn that Dr. Berwick plans to use rationing as a cost-cutting tool...”
House Republican Leader John Boehner Receives NRLC Award,
Addresses National Right to Life Convention in Pittsburgh
Editor’s note. On Saturday morning House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) received the National Right to Life Legislative Leadership Award for outstanding pro-life leadership in Congress at NRLC’s convention in Pittsburgh. During the address, Boehner announced his support for critical legislation soon to be introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that will codify the pro-life Hyde amendment and bar Congress from using taxpayer funds for abortion or abortion coverage.
Boehner: The Life of the Party
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has shown he’s not afraid to speak up on the issue of life. And this past weekend, he found a friendly audience to listen! On Saturday, Rep. Boehner trekked to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to accept a well-deserved National Right to Life Legislative Leadership Award in recognition of all he’s done in Congress to defend the unborn. He spoke at length about taxpayer-funded abortion and how he and colleague Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) plan to attack it. “One of the many ideas being discussed right now on America Speaking Out is the idea of codifying the Hyde Amendment so that it applies to all federal funding, whether those funds are appropriated by Congress or authorized by Congress… I’m please to announce that Congressman Chris Smith will be introducing legislation to accomplish this goal… It’s time for Washington to stop defying the will of the American people on this critical, common-sense issue.” You can help Congressmen Smith and Boehner make that policy a reality by clicking over to the America Speak Out website and voting in favor of the idea. Family Research Council (frc.org)
