Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) will introduce legislation Thursday placing a permanent ban on the federal funding of abortion.
While a 24-year-old law - dubbed the Hyde Amendment - already ensures taxpayers don't subsidize abortions under Medicaid and all other federal health programs, the law is temporary, forcing Congress to pass it each year as a rider to broader spending bills.
The Smith/Lipinski bill would permanently solidify the funding ban across all federal agencies.
Chris Bowers has obtained a list of Bart Stupak supporters who would kill health care reform unless it further limits reproductive care. Bowers:
The reason for this, unsurprisingly, remains Bart Stupak. He is, as Natasha described this morning, working to block the entire bill unless none of the insurance options in the new health care exchanges cover abortion procedures. This is even though there is already a ban on federal funding for abortion in the bill, and in pre-existing federal law. Using an alliance of Republicans, anti-choice Democrats, and Democrats who oppose the health care bill for other reasons, Stupak is claiming that he has enough votes to block the bill for reaching the floor (though the necessary "motion to recommit" vote), unless his demands are met.
Bowers says that Sutpak does not have the votes but that he suspects that there may other holdouts willing to join Stupak for reasons other than placing further limits on abortion. In anycase his list does contain Costello and Lipinski. See the link above for the full list.
From the "can't believe they said it, and yet is anyone really surprised" file, we have Tom McCluskey, acting vice president for government affairs at the Family Research Council:
While other issues are important -- such as helping the poor, the death penalty, views on war -- these are things that aren't tenets of the Catholic Church.
And then there's immigration (on which the US Council of Catholic Bishops recently dared to opine):
William Murphy of Farmingville-based Concerned Residents for a Better Brook- haven, a group concerned about illegal immigration, said he disagreed with many of the church's assertions.
"There is a legal way for people to come here and a lot of people do it," he said, adding that the church should stick to spiritual matters.
Apparently the Catholic Church and its members are no longer welcome in the "culture of life" pool. We're just too much trouble.
A rally is planned for January 23 in Claredon Hills at the Thompson Center from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. in response to Governor Blagojevich’s blatant disregard for a mother’s right to protect her daughter. The Governor opposes minor girls’ parents from being notified if they choose to have an abortion.
The AP is reporting the abortion rate is down for Illinois, but then goes on to quote - in a fair and balanced way of course (let's NOT investigate and find out the facts here)- why the rate is down: Anti-abortionists say (with a straight face) because abstinence training is working in high schools. Pro-choicer's say it's due to better access to emergency birth control such as the morning after pill.
