Politics
Friday September 22, 2006
Democrats Unveil New “Pro-life” Legislation That Even Pro-Abortion Advocates Can Support
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By Peter J. Smith
WASHINGTON, September 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-life House Democrat from Tennessee has proposed legislation that intends to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, but offers no challenge or restriction to his party’s devotion to perpetuating unfettered abortion. The legislation may provide an opportunity for the liberal-dominated Democratic Party to reclaim some of the pro-life votes that made the difference for an overall Republican victory in the 2004 elections.
Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN) unveiled the Pregnant Women Support Act at a press conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The bill is in the spirit of the “95-10 Abortion Reduction Initiative” proposed by some Congressional Democrats and Democrats for Life of America last year as a way of reducing 95% of abortions within 10 years.
Davis revealed that his bill includes 14 provisions calling for expanding coverage to pregnant women and unborn children through Medicaid and state-sponsored children's insurance programs. The bill also seeks to make obtaining health care coverage easier for pregnant women by removing pregnancy from health insurance companies' "pre-existing condition" lists. Davis’ proposal also calls for adoption tax credits, grants for low-income parents studying in college, increased funding for domestic violence programs, and free home visits by registered nurses for new mothers.
"This initiative provides the kind of support, information, and options that should be readily available to pregnant women in any society that truly believes in the sanctity of life. Congress can and should act immediately to implement this 95-10 initiative," Davis told reporters.
Davis added that his bill was "legislation America has been waiting for" and maintained "pro-choice or pro-life this is legislation we can all support."
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The proposed legislation has the support of 14 Democratic representatives and is co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey. Smith remarked that any of the provisions of the bill could "stand alone as good pieces of legislation," but emphasized the bill would "meet many of the unmet needs of pregnant women."
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life, hailed the latest measure at the press conference, saying that no matter what side of the abortion debate people are on, people believe "something must be done" about the abortion rate and many feel that it is "time to move beyond the tired debate of who's right and who's wrong."
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops supports the bill, which follows 6 days after last week’s other proposal by Democrat Tim Ryan, D-Ohio to reduce abortions. However the USCCB objected to the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act, since the centerpiece of Ryan’s bill included promoting and subsidizing contraception access.
As the 2006 elections approach this November, leaders of the Democratic Party, including pro-abortionist Sens. Hilary Clinton (D-NY) and John Kerry (D-MA), have made rumblings that the party needs to temper its rabid defense of abortion if it ever hopes to siphon away pro-life votes key to Republican majorities in the House and Senate in its coming elections. The Davis bill seems to follow this line of thinking, since it aims to pass for “pro-life” legislation by reducing abortion through various means, but makes no legislative plan to restrict abortion on demand in the United States.
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