In a late night development, anti-abortion Democrats scored a major victory by persuading Democratic leaders to allow them to offer an amendment during the House health care debate Saturday that would ban most abortion coverage from the public option and other insurance providers in the new so-called "exchange" the legislation would create, three Democratic sources told CNN.
The prohibition would exclude cases of rape, incest or if the mother's life is in danger.
The reason the anti-abortion Democrats won the right to put an amendment on abortion in the first place is stated clearly by a Democratic leadership source, when they state "We didn't have a choice. We didn't have the votes."
If this amendment passes, Pelosi runs smack dab into the more liberal portion of her caucus.
The Hill:
Liberals on the committee threatened to vote against the final healthcare bill if it included Stupak’s language, warning that it would be a return to the days of back-alley abortions.
“I forsee a return to the dark ages,” said Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.). “I’m 73, I’ve seen these dark things, they use these coat hangers and die.”
Hot Air points out the very obvious lie here.
That’s a remarkable statement — since we don’t use federal funds now to pay for abortions. Stupak’s amendment just maintains the status quo; it doesn’t actually change anything. The coat-hanger argument has always been a red herring anyway, but in this instance it’s especially dishonest … unless Hastings et al see this bill as a complete government takeover of the health-care system, which it will definitely produce sooner or later.
Liberals and abortion activists are already claiming the Democrats are "selling them out."
Pres. Obama opened the door to sell us out when he decided to put the Hyde Amendment in the budget, something Bill Clinton never did. But Mr. Obama didn’t stop there. During the stimulus fight, at the first sign of displeasure, our President personally asked that contraceptives be taken out. Now the President seems ready to finish the job, with Democrats poised to help him do it.
SNIP
There is no health care bill worth supporting that sells out women’s rights. That it’s happening under Pres. Obama doesn’t surprise me, because I never expected him to champion our civil rights, but that Speaker Pelosi and Democrats in the House, but next, in the Senate, may likely go along is a bridge too far for me. It’s one reason I refused to get exercised about health care in the first place. I always believed it would come down to this, especially after Obama put Hyde in the budget, then the stimulus action, but also because Obama didn’t lift a finger to get health care passed by the August recess, which not even a dying Ted Kennedy could inspire. A man who had worked decades to see this dream manifest, just as he’d helped candidate Obama, deeming he was the man on which we could pin all of our future hopes.
Right now every woman who values her civil rights should understand how the gay community feels. Because the Democrats look poised to sell us out too.
If I was in the House I’d vote to kill the Stupak-Ellsworth amendment. But if it passes and it’s in the final legislation, I’d vote to kill the bill.
Civil rights begin with autonomy over our own body. If we don’t have that we have nothing.
But at least Mr. Obama and the Democrats will be closer to their “historic health care win.” That they did it on the backs of women’s civil rights will be a footnote, though some of us will never forget.
In related news, Sen. Tom Coburn is threatening to have the full 1,990 page bill read on the floor and if you don't buy what they tell you to buy, when they tell you to buy it... go straight to jail. Obamacare!!!
Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.
In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
They are expected to vote on the 1,990 page monstrosity (that is without all the amendments that will be voted on), this weekend.
Stay tuned...
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