Saturday Showdown for Life: No Protection of Life - No Bill

No phony compromises, no misleading language, no smoke and mirrors, no lies. No protection of life - no bill! Saturday Evening Vote is Critical.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - The next round of the health care battle will begin this Saturday evening, as the Senate takes a procedural vote called cloture, which is a vote to allow Senator Reid's bill to be considered for debate and a final "yes or no" vote later on. This cloture vote has a history of being an accurate predictor of whether the legislation will actually pass. Over 97% of bills that attain cloture are ultimately passed. Many people are suggesting that a vote for cloture is really a vote for the bill. Harry Reid and others are loudly protesting that assumption as a tactic by those opposed to the bill, but Senate history can't be ignored, and those who don't support this monstrous legislation can't afford to be that gullible.

The important points right now are that the Senate bill does not include the Stupak amendment that was successfully added to the House bill. The Stupak amendment clearly forbids tax dollars from funding abortion in any way other than what the Hyde amendment already specifies. It prevents the expansion of abortion coverage that Planned Parenthood, their allies in Congress and President Obama really want. It protects you and I from paying for the mass murder of the unborn through our tax dollars.

Since the House bill passed, PP has been working overtime to make sure that the Senate bill does not include the Stupak amendment. A quick visit to Planned Parenthood's website will confirm their contempt for this amendment and their determination to make sure the Senate version expands abortion coverage at taxpayer expense.

The Senate bill includes language that is akin to the false compromise of the Capps amendment which all pro-life leaders and representatives in Congress rejected because they knew it did not actually prevent federal dollars from funding abortion. They knew it was phony protection, and in fact, helped mandate abortion coverage through the back door.

The legislation gives great latitude to the SHHS Kathleen Sebelius and her office. So many unanswered specifics about what is covered or not covered are left for her to determine after the bill has been passed, when it is too late for anyone to object. Regarding the abortion provisions (which begin on page 116 of the bill) it says that "the Secretary may not require the "community health insurance option" (the public option) to include Hyde-prohibited abortions unless the Secretary ensures that through accounting mechanisms federal funds do not pay for abortions and ensures that the United States does not bear the health insurance risk of coverage of Hyde-prohibited abortions."

This is functionally no different from the Capps amendment and will allow Secretary Sebelius to include elective abortion in the public option. And seriously, does anyone, anyone, actually trust the government to "ensure through accounting mechanisms" that our tax dollars are not used to kill babies?!? Don't you just love that phrase - accounting mechanisms? Sounds like an invitation to fraud and misuse of funds if you ask me.

Besides, such language is misleading and manipulative in the first place. The only money the government can spend is federal money, derived from tax dollars, which starts out as private money. If the public option allows abortion coverage and private insurers receive federal subsidies, it's taxpayer funded abortion, no matter what category it's put into on paper.

Other specifics from the bill:

"At least one plan in each Exchange must provide both Hyde-prohibited and Hyde-permitted abortions."

And regarding the right of conscience for medical providers who don't want to participate in abortions, the protection sounds very weak, indeed.

"Nothing in the act relieves health care providers from being required to provide emergency services as required by state and federal law."

All that remains is for Sebelius to specify what constitutes an "emergency" as it relates to abortion, and suddenly there is no longer the right to refuse.

I'm wondering... as Secretary Sebelius and the other "experts" begin writing the specifics of this new public option, and outline the new requirements for private insurances, will abortion coverage be part of a "package" of benefits for women that include breast exams, pap smears, and OB care? In other words, if I say I want to choose a plan that does NOT provide abortion coverage, but I still want OB care and my regular well-woman exams, will I be forced to choose a plan that provides abortion coverage because it's all considered "reproductive health" and therefore lumped together in one set of benefits?

Will the plans that do not fund abortions even include basic women's health exams and preventive care? Who is to say? It will be up to the discretion of Sebelius and the other governmental experts who will fill in the blanks of this bill after it has been passed.

Is that how the funds will be kept so carefully separate? How else can they guarantee to us that no tax dollars will be used to pay for abortions unless the plans that don't cover abortions don't cover anything else for women either? Will there be a "Men's Plan" and a "Women's Plan"? Call me crazy if you want, but we should not underestimate the determination of Obama's administration to expand abortion coverage in America. He promised as much to Planned Parenthood, and they are now holding his feet to the fire. They helped elect him, and he knows it.

The pro-abortion lobby is out in force insisting that the Stupak amendment places greater restrictions on abortions than Hyde does, even though that claim is patently false. Stupak simply keeps the status quo restrictions in place. The Stupak amendment prohibits tax dollars from funding abortions and prohibits federal subsidies from going to insurance plans that cover abortions. This is precisely what the Hyde amendment has always done. It's just that now, the Anti-Life and Pro-Abortion crowd wants to eliminate the Hyde restrictions and expand abortion access across the country, and to accomplish that, the language of this health care reform must not be identical to Hyde.

The danger is this: if the legislation's language is not identical to the Hyde amendment, then pro-abortion allies in Congress can take the next step of attempting to remove the Hyde amendment permanently, and thus drastically expand mandated abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood and their cohorts have made it quite clear that they want Hyde to go, and it'll simply be the next step if this bill is passed without the Stupak amendment.

And remember: President Obama has been equally clear that he does not like the Stupak amendment and does not want it included in the Senate bill. Who has the President's ear and his promise of support right now? Planned Parenthood.

Bottom line, if you have not called your Senators, now is the moment. We must write and call and email and fax until we succeed in convincing them to defend the unborn and protect all human life and to flat-out reject any health care legislation that does not unequivocally uphold the sanctity of human life at every age and stage. No phony compromises, no misleading language, no smoke and mirrors, no lies. No protection of life, no bill.

Now is the time for intense prayer and renewed Catholic Action! On the vigil of the Feast of Christ the King let us storm the heavens and ask the King of Kings to stop the unjust efforts of these civil leaders who fail to hear the cry of the poorest of the poor, our first neighbors in their mother's womb. Abortion is not health care because killing is not healing!

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Jennifer Hartline is a Catholic Army wife and stay-at-home mother of three precious kids who writes frequently on topics of Catholic faith and daily living. She is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.

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