Poor Bart Stupak. The man tried to be a hero for the unborn, and then, when all the power of the moment was in his frail human hands, he dropped the baby. He genuflected when he should have dug in his heels and gave it up for a meaningless executive order.
Now, in the wake of his decision to vote for a health-care bill that expands public funding for abortion, he is vilified and will forever be remembered as the guy who Stupaked health-care reform and the pro-life movement.
I would make one correction, Stupak didn't drop the baby, he killed the baby with his vote.
Accepting the promise of an "executive order", which legally holds no weight, instead of continuing to fight on principle, Stupak has become a villain of almost every pro-life group and because of language used in the executive order, also the villain to many pro-choice groups.
Parker expands:
The executive order promising that no federal funds will be used for abortion is utterly useless, and everybody knows it. First, the president can revoke it as quickly as he signs it.
Second, an order cannot confer jurisdiction in the courts or establish any grounds for suing anybody in court, according to a former White House counsel. The order is therefore judicially unenforceable.
Stupak killed the babies over a useless piece of paper.
The good news?
Bart Stupak is feeling the heat.
Support surges for Stupak's re-election opponent after abortion funding deal with White House
.