Post by Pam on Aug 21, 2009 15:37:20 GMT -5
Healthcare reform and abortions - what's the truth?
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 8/21/2009 6:00:00 AM
President Obama contends that conservatives are "bearing false witness" about his healthcare reform plan, but one leading conservative says it's the president who's misleading the American public.
President Obama told thousands of liberal religious leaders in a telephone call Wednesday that healthcare reform is a "core ethical and moral obligation," and his reform plans are designed to fulfill one of God's commandments -- "I am my brother's keeper. I am my sister's keeper."
The president also said it is a "fabrication" and "distraction" to say taxpayer funding of abortion is included in the House and Senate healthcare reform plans.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, says he has been working on Capitol Hill for three months with pro-life members of Congress to ensure taxpayer funding of abortions is not included in the bill -- but those lawmakers' efforts have been unsuccessful.
"We have a whole page-and-a-half of amendments that were offered on multiple days to do just that, and they were all voted down, primarily on party lines," he explains. "So if abortion were not going to be in this bill and it was not the intent, why would there be opposition to just stating that it was excluded and outside the funding of this bill?"
Perkins says President Obama is committed to his goal of funding abortion but "is now attempting to obscure this commitment because of an overwhelmingly public backlash."
Blue dog barks
Meanwhile, a conservative Blue Dog Democrat says one of the main reasons he does not support the current House healthcare bill is because it allows for taxpayer funding of abortions.
As OneNewsNow has previously reported, an amendment successfully attached to H.R. 3200 by liberal Representative Lois Capps (D-California) in the House Energy and Commerce Committee authorizes federal funding of abortions through the government-run healthcare plan the bill would create. (Listen to audio)
Congressman Travis Childers (D-Mississippi) was among a group of 19 pro-life Democrats who wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, informing her that they would only support healthcare legislation that "explicitly excludes" federal funding of abortions.
"When I was a candidate, since I've been in Congress, and today, I have said and I continually say, and I will not veer from this -- federal funding for abortion is a deal-breaker for me on any healthcare reform bill, period," he states. "If it is included, that's automatically lost my vote on anything. I'm very firm on that."
Childers says he does not support the public option promoted by many fellow Democrats because he is a "free enterprise guy" and believes the private sector will "step up and do the right thing" if it knows Congress is serious about healthcare reform.
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 8/21/2009 6:00:00 AM
President Obama contends that conservatives are "bearing false witness" about his healthcare reform plan, but one leading conservative says it's the president who's misleading the American public.
President Obama told thousands of liberal religious leaders in a telephone call Wednesday that healthcare reform is a "core ethical and moral obligation," and his reform plans are designed to fulfill one of God's commandments -- "I am my brother's keeper. I am my sister's keeper."
The president also said it is a "fabrication" and "distraction" to say taxpayer funding of abortion is included in the House and Senate healthcare reform plans.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, says he has been working on Capitol Hill for three months with pro-life members of Congress to ensure taxpayer funding of abortions is not included in the bill -- but those lawmakers' efforts have been unsuccessful.
"We have a whole page-and-a-half of amendments that were offered on multiple days to do just that, and they were all voted down, primarily on party lines," he explains. "So if abortion were not going to be in this bill and it was not the intent, why would there be opposition to just stating that it was excluded and outside the funding of this bill?"
Perkins says President Obama is committed to his goal of funding abortion but "is now attempting to obscure this commitment because of an overwhelmingly public backlash."
Blue dog barks
Meanwhile, a conservative Blue Dog Democrat says one of the main reasons he does not support the current House healthcare bill is because it allows for taxpayer funding of abortions.
As OneNewsNow has previously reported, an amendment successfully attached to H.R. 3200 by liberal Representative Lois Capps (D-California) in the House Energy and Commerce Committee authorizes federal funding of abortions through the government-run healthcare plan the bill would create. (Listen to audio)
Congressman Travis Childers (D-Mississippi) was among a group of 19 pro-life Democrats who wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, informing her that they would only support healthcare legislation that "explicitly excludes" federal funding of abortions.
"When I was a candidate, since I've been in Congress, and today, I have said and I continually say, and I will not veer from this -- federal funding for abortion is a deal-breaker for me on any healthcare reform bill, period," he states. "If it is included, that's automatically lost my vote on anything. I'm very firm on that."
Childers says he does not support the public option promoted by many fellow Democrats because he is a "free enterprise guy" and believes the private sector will "step up and do the right thing" if it knows Congress is serious about healthcare reform.