Playing Politics with Healthcare

I had an opportunity this weekend to participate in a “town hall” meeting on healthcare reform. The speaker was U.S. Representative Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) Far from the raucous meetings you see on Fox News or You Tube, this one was pretty sedate. It was held at a Knights of Columbus hall, sponsored by a pro-life group, and attended largely by pro-lifers who have supported Joe Pitts’ pro-life record in Congress. 

            Congressman Pitts is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of three House committees that has jurisdiction over the healthcare bill. His talk was interesting because gave an “inside baseball” talk on the negotiations over H.R. 3200, the House’s healthcare reform bill. To understand his actions you have to know that Congressman Pitts chairs something called the Values Action Team, which is a coalition of about 70 congressmen, plus pro-life or pro-family groups like Focus on the Family. 

            The main topic of his remarks was that Committee chairman Henry Waxman and the other leftists in Congress are using healthcare reform as a way to backdoor abortion-on-demand into American public policy. This is occurring in a number of ways.

The Democrat-controlled House bill will mandate that health care providers that accept federal funding will have to offer abortion services or referrals. It will preempt state laws that place conditions on abortions. (About 40 states now have abortion notification provisions.) It will remove Bush-era protections for healthcare providers who refuse to provide abortion referrals or services for reasons of conscience. It will return federal funding for abortions to the District of Columbia. (Three days after his inauguration, Pres. Obama began playing his campaign debit to NARAL and the abortion industry by issuing an executive order that overturned previous prohibitions on federal funding of abortions in overseas family planning programs) 

            Congressman Pitts has offered four amendments to the bill that would restore right-to-life protections. These amendments have been subject to a variety of parliamentary maneuvers on the part of the majority, which will refuse to let them be introduced when the bill gets to the floor for full debate. Such is the state that our government has become. 

            Of course these lions of courage like Henry Waxman and Nancy Pelosi could stand up for their abortion beliefs in a heartbeat. Rather than payoff the abortion industry under the table in the healthcare reform bill, they could simply introduce a bill that asserts abortion as a legal right, preempts any state laws that restrict or regulate it, and offer to have the federal government pay for it. The majority party certainly has the votes in the House to do it. The Senate would be trickier, but whatever they came up with, Pres. Obama would sign it. 

            But the left lacks the courage of its own convictions. That’s why any healthcare bill would exempt members of Congress, so they could continue receiving their current gold-plated health benefits. So NARAL toadies like Chairman Waxman rely on parliamentary ruses to pay off their campaign debts but not have to answer to an angry American public, which is getting angrier by the day. 

            Just thought you might like to know.