‘Not happy with me’

By Jennifer J. Foster

I told you last week about how U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, a pro-life Democrat, has organized a group of Democrats to vote with Republicans to block the health care legislation if it is not amended to block taxpayer money from being used to cover abortion. (Details, including an explanation of how the current bill would change standing federal policy on tax-funded abortions, in last week’s post.)

Let’s see how Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing with this big-tent concept, shall we?

From The Hill:

Rep. Bart Stupak said Speaker Pelosi is not pleased with his effort to change abortion-related provisions in the healthcare bill being crafted by the House.

During an interview on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” show, Stupak (D-Mich.) said he is undeterred in trying to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not pay for abortions. Stupak, who opposes abortion rights, acknowledged that some in his party are upset with his public campaign to change the bill ...

Stupak pointed out that he and Democratic leaders have a fundamental disagreement on whether health plans that receive subsidies from the government should be allowed to provide coverage options on abortions.

Stupak wants a vote on the House floor to strike the language, and predicts he would have the votes to pass such an amendment.

“This has been federal law since 1976,“ he said, noting that President Barack Obama has vowed not to allow healthcare reform to pay for abortions.

“We have to have a vote,“ he said.

Hmm. Sounds like Pelosi isn’t playing well with others.

Well, no worries. This guy is just like so many others, right? He’ll make a lot of noise for the national media attention, and then he’ll back down in time for things to calm down so he can keep his seat.

Not so fast, my friend.

Stupak stressed he wants to vote for healthcare reform and is “still somewhat optimistic” that he will reach an accord with Democratic leaders.

However, the Michigan Democrat said he will not be backing down: “I’m comfortable with where I’m at. This is who I am. It’s reflective of my district. If it costs me my seat, so be it.“

Wow. A principle-driven legislator, completely unafraid of losing his power—and, therefore, uncontrollable?

No wonder Pelosi doesn’t dig him.

See also:

Remember how we were talking about how, if left unaddressed, this component of the health care legislation could create problems for the Democratic leadership and the bill’s overall prospects? Behold, pushback: CNN’s Political Ticker had this item last week on how the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged priests around the country to speak out against the legislation from the pulpit this Sunday. The conference provided fliers for insertion into this weekend’s newsletters “urging parishioners to contact their senators and representatives to ask them ‘to fix these bills with the pro-life amendments,‘“ CNN reported.

“The bills will have to change or the bishops have pledged to oppose them,“ the flier reads. “Our nation is at a crossroads.“

Indeed.

Check out this story about a former executive director of a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Texas who had a change of heart after witnessing a shift in the organization’s focus:

According to (former director Abby) Johnson, the non-profit was struggling under the weight of a tough economy, and changing it’s business model from one that pushed prevention, to one that focused on abortion.

“It seemed like maybe that’s not what a lot of people were believing any more because that’s not where the money was. The money wasn’t in family planning, the money wasn’t in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that,“ said Johnson.

Johnson said she was told to bring in more women who wanted abortions, something the Episcopalian church goer recently became convicted about.

I have said here before that it never made any sense to me to put an organization with a financial stake in the failure of contraception in charge of teaching contraception.

Abby Johnson’s comments illustrate the point.