Call Your Representative: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act

Government prohibition on taxpayer funding for abortion was recently introduced in the House by Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL).  So far over 175 Members of Congress have agreed to cosponsor the Smith/Lipinski bill titled the “ No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (HR 5939).   Read the text of the bill here.
 
It is important for pro-lifers to urge all  Members of Congress to cosponsor the legislation with the goal of demonstrating that there is enough support to pass the bill.  Call your Representative today at (202) 224-3121.

Priority calls: 

Republicans: Biggert, Bilbray, Bono Mack, Capito, Castle, Dent, Djou, Dreier, Flake, Frelinghuysen, Hastings, Heller, Kirk, Lance, Mack, C., Nunes, Putnam, Reichert, Rohrabacher, Rooney, Royce, Young, B., Young, D.,

Democrats: Baca, Barrow, Berry, Bishop, Boccieri, Cardoza, Chandler, Cooper, Costa, Cuellar, Davis (AL), Doyle, Etheridge, Gordon, Hill, Holden, Kaptur, Kildee, Langevin, Lynch, Matheson, Melancon, Michaud, Mollohan, Neal, Obey, Perriello, Pomeroy, Reyes, Rodriguez, Ryan (OH), Salazar, Shuler, Skelton, Snyder, Space, Spratt, Stupak, Tanner, Teague

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Bart Stupak’s Betrayal

For the Editors of St Michael Society, the shock over Bart Stupak’s betrayal this weekend has begun to turn into anger and grief. Its one thing to cave to pressures and intimidation but Stupak’s speech on the House floor sheds new light on the man. This was not a man who changed his vote because he was worn down by attacks. Bart Stupak’s speech on the House floor revealed a man, who in the end, decided to put the Democratic Party ahead the life of the unborn, the lives of women who will suffer from abortion, obedience to the bishops and sadly his faith. We need to pray for him and we must work to undo the damage he has done.

Here are the writings of respected voices on the topic:

Kathryn Jean Lopez:  

Unfortunately, if Bart Stupak truly wanted to ensure that human dignity was respected in this legislation, he wouldn’t have surrendered. But surrender he did — and then some, declaring the Democratic party the protectors of the unborn on the House floor last night.

The Democratic party is nothing of the sort — which is another reason no one who wanted to defeat the taxpayer funding of abortion in Obamacare should have expected a Stupak-led victory in this Washington environment. It’s the party that will never offend the abortion industry. It’s the party that owns partial-birth abortion.

William McGurn

By caving at the last hour, he discredited all who stood with him. (What does it say about Ohio’s Marcy Kaptur and Pennsylvania’s Chris Carney that they had already agreed to vote yes even before the fig leaf of the executive order had come through?) In addition to undermining an encouraging partnership with pro-lifers across the congressional aisle, Mr. Stupak signaled that, in the end, you can’t count on pro-life Democrats.

Susan B. Anthony List

Let me be clear: any representative, including Rep. Stupak, who votes for this healthcare bill can no longer call themselves ‘pro-life.’ The Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund will not endorse, or support in any capacity, any Member of Congress who votes for this bill in any future election. Now through Election Day 2010, these representatives will learn that votes have consequences. The SBA List Candidate Fund will work tirelessly to help defeat Members who support this legislation and make sure their constituents know exactly how they voted.

CWA

…in the 11th hour, he caved. He succumbed to the pressures of the most pro-abortion Administration in history just because they said they would write on a piece of paper that the federal government won’t fund abortion. It’s not even a law the President wrote. It’s not worth the Post-It note he wrote it on.

 Shame on you Bart Stupak. Shame on all the other Members who walked the plank with you. You all sold out and scorned millions of voters who trusted you and believed in you. 

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Catholic or Lobbyist First

You have undoubtly heard the sad news of so called Catholic organizations supporting the current healthcare bill that funds abortions.  Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann has done great work the expose the true motives of these organizations.  He is also urging his flock to contact key members of Congress this week asking them to vote ‘no’ on the pro-abortion Senate Health Care Reform bill.  His advice is sound for all of us.

You can read the Archbishop’s letter here. Here are the key contact numbers for interested Catholics:

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From the Breviary – 3/15/10

Yesterday, those of us in the Diocese of Arlington were asked to keep a day of prayer and fasting by Bishop Loverde to ask God’s protection and guidance for those who are crafting health care legislation.  I imagine that it is no accident that the petitions for Evening Prayer in the Divine Office for yesterday started off with these:

Glory to God the Father, who has promised through his Son to grant what is asked by those who pray together. With confidence in this promise, let us pray:
– Lord, save the people you have redeemed.

Lord, you gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and brought it to perfection in your Anointed One,
may all recognize the Law written in their hearts, and keep it faithfully as a covenant.
– Lord, save the people you have redeemed.

Give those in authority a true concern for their brothers and sisters entrusted to their care,
and inspire the hearts of the people to support their leaders.
– Lord, save the people you have redeemed.

It may be a good idea to keep these petitions close to you in the coming days and pray them everyday as we grow closer to a vote on this legislation.  We cannot know what God will allow to happen, but we do know that it is our job to pray for the best.

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Sebelius Doubletalk; Stupak Not Backing Down

Headlines like this don’t get old -“Could Issue of Abortion Derail Health Care Bill?”

And neither does Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), a pro-life Catholic Democrat who, over and over again has said he (and many of his colleagues) will not vote for any bill that funds abortion with government dollars.

President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Planned Parenthood, et al must be fuming. President Obama completely ignored Minority Leader John Boehner’s concern about this during last week’s healthcare summit and Nancy Pelosi is back to her talking points that the bill doesn’t change the status quo on abortion funding.

On Good Morning America this morning, Dept. of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (remember her? – she and the late late-term abortionist George Tiller were very close) said that the bill doesn’t change the status quo on abortion.

However, on Dec. 22, 2009 Sebelius specifically said that the Senate bill is an “accounting procedure” and that everyone would pay into the abortion fund:

SEBELIUS:That would be an accounting procedure, but everybody in the exchange would do the same thing, whether you’re male or female, whether you’re 75 or 25, you would all set aside a portion of your premium that would go into a fund, and it would not be earmarked for anything, it would be a separate account that everyone in the exchange would pay.”

Stupak followed Sebelius this morning on Good Morning America and said he and his pro-life colleagues cannot vote for a bill that contains language that funds abortion. But then he took it even farther:

STEPHANOPOULOS: “Let me be clear here.  If the president doesn’t change the language, if your language is not accepted, you and your 11 colleagues who voted yes the last time will vote no this time. Does that mean you’re prepared to take responsibility for bringing down this whole bill?”

STUPAK: “Yes, we’re prepared to take responsibility. I mean, I’ve been catching it ever since last fall.  Let’s face it, I want to see health care. But we’re not going to bypass some principles and beliefs that we feel strongly about.”

See the whole GMA segment here: http://bit.ly/aDJoOk

As readers of this blog know, the Senate bill, which is the one Obama’s new bill mirrors, absolutely and without a doubt funds abortion with government money. There is even an “abortion fee” levied through that bill that goes to the abortion fund Sebelius was talking about. We don’t know how Pelosi, Obama and their allies say that it doesn’t fund abortion.

Obama has made it clear he wants Congress to use the tricky procedure of reconciliation to pass/ram through his unpopular healthcare reform (he’s been playing close attention to recent elections as you can tell). The power lies in the House -the bill HAS to pass the House of Representatives before it can go to Obama for his signature and then to the Senate for a majority vote.

You know what you have to do. This is it. The endgame has arrived – don’t let up in contacting your elected officials and tell them you’re not fooled by Obama’s rhetoric. You know abortion funding is in the bill and you don’t want it.

And pray for Rep. Stupak and his allies. No doubt he has the weight of the most powerful people in the world upon his shoulders and they want him to cave to their demands.

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Report from LifeNews:

Richard Doerflinger, the associate director of the pro-life office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops put Pelosi’s myth to bed.

“We do not know how anyone who has spoken to the bishops could conclude that the Senate health care bill does not fund abortions. As the bishops have said in their letters to Congress, abortion problems in the Senate bill are so serious that, despite our strong support for expanding access to health care, we will have to oppose the bill unless they are resolved,” he said.

“While the Senate bill includes some language limiting the direct use of tax credits to subsidize abortion coverage, it still violates longstanding federal precedent on abortion funding in two ways,” Doerflinger explained.

“First, the Senate’s abortion language limits only use of tax credits for abortion in qualified health plans, not other funding in the bill. For example, the bill authorizes and appropriates $7 billion for services at community health centers (increased to $11 billion in the President’s new proposal). The Hyde amendment does not prevent direct use of these billions of dollars for elective abortions (because the funds are not provided through the appropriations bill governed by Hyde); nor does any provision in the Senate bill,” the pro-life Catholic leader said.

“Second, the Senate’s language on tax credits still allows subsidies for overall health plans that cover elective abortions, against the policy of the Hyde amendment and other longstanding federal laws. The bill requires each American purchasing such a plan to make a separate payment to the insurer every month, solely to pay for other people’s abortions. This is an enormous imposition on the consciences of the millions of Americans who oppose abortion,” Doerflinger concluded in his statement.

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Big Week in Healthcare Coming Up

A lot will be happening on healthcare next week. Not satisfied that the American people have soundly rejected their healthcare plans, that includes government-funding of abortion, President Obama, Harry Reid & Nancy Pelosi are back to pushing their own agenda hard.

President Obama is meeting with GOP leaders next Thursday, Feb. 25th, which will be aired live, to talk about coming up with a bi-partisan healthcare plan. But before that he will be releasing his own reconciliation healthcare bill and posting it online either late this weekend or Monday morning. The President wants this bill to be the starting point of negotiations during the GOP healthcare meeting.

Has Obama mentioned abortion? Of course he hasn’t. But here’s the thing. Abortion HAS to be addressed somehow in the healthcare bill. If there is no specific exclusion of abortion written into the bill, like the Stupak Amendment did, then you and I will be funding abortion through healthcare. Period.

Obama knows it. Pelosi knows it. Reid knows it. And Americans know it too. We’ve written on several national polls showing that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of government-funding of abortion.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), Nancy Pelosi is going to have a heck of a hard time passing a healthcare bill in the House that doesn’t include his amendment.

Be vigilant. Read the new bill. And contact your legislators. Like we have said, healthcare reform isn’t over yet. Obama and his allies are desperate for a healthcare bill and they are desperate to pay back all the support they have received from the abortion industry. And from the looks for it, they will do anything whatsoever to get it.

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Pelosi Corrected By Bishop…. AGAIN!

This one almost slipped by unnoticed, but thanks to a friend I came across this recent public chastisment of Nancy Pelosi by Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco after comments she made last month about her disagreements with Church teaching.  Ms. Pelsoi, as only Ms. Pelosi can do, managed once again to completely misrepresent the faith she claims she so avidly follows.

Anyway, the news here is not Pelosi’s heretical ramblings.  Those have been well documented before.  The news here is that another bishop has risen to publically correct those ramblings – to make sure that the liberals no longer go unchecked when they pretend to evenagelize in the media. 

The St. Michael Society is happy to report on the courage and leadership that is being shown by many of our American bishops since the Obama-Notre Dame scandal.  This time, Archbishop Niederauer gets the props.  If you have a moment, send him your thanks, support and prayers.  (you can contact him at info@sfarchdiocese.org)

Here is his open letter to Nancy Pelosi on the real meaning of conscience, free will, and what it means to be a Catholic.

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Lessons from the Lectionary

I am not for a moment about to suggest that this is the way God intended us to interpret this, but for those who happened to attend daily Mass on the Friday before the MA special election and the anniversary of Obama’s inauguration, you were treated to this story about how the people complained against Samuel and demanded that they be given a king to rule over them as other nations have.

http://bit.ly/7HFp4E

God, through Samuel, warned the people that if this were to happen, the king would quickly use his authority to tax them, take their property, oppress them with labor, and make their lives generally miserable, and that eventually they would complain to God to remove the king, and God would not listen to their complaints.

But, the people would not listen and insisted that they be given a king.  And so, God told Samuel to give them exactly what they want.  And wouldn’t you know – eventually they complained to God about the king.  Funny how that happens.

And it is also funny how history just keeps repeating itself even into our day – when even in our free republic we get caught up in the moment and cry out for a king of sorts;  someone to rule over us in a way where we don’t have to worry about anything.  He will provide everything for us.  And before we know it we get exactly what we wished for only to regret that moment of weakness.

If you ask me, that reading just happened to be in the right place at the right time for Americans to reflect on the choices we make through our voting, and the discernment we should take when deciding.

In fact, that whole series of readings was interesting given the events of the world.  On Wednesday, January 20 – the anniversary of Obama’s inauguration – daily Mass-goers woke up to the news that MA had elected a republican senator, and were then treated to the story of David and Goliath for the first reading.

Just sayin’….

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Stop The Attempt To Use the “Nuclear” Option

From the Susan B. Anthony List

Nancy Pelosi is plotting to salvage Pro-Abortion Bill

Nancy Pelosi has revealed her intention to use the “nuclear” option to pass an amendment to the Senate Health Care Reform Bill through the Senate.  She intends to use this procedural trick to convince Representatives to pass the unpopular pro-abortion Senate Health Care Reform Bill.  Tell your Representative to oppose using procedural tricks to shove unpopular pro-abortion health care legislation through Congress.  Demand that they stand firm against any attempt to pass the pro-abortion Senate Health Care Reform Bill into law.

http://capwiz.com/sbalist/issues/alert/?alertid=14605861

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