News

By Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Senate will not be able to reach a consensus on President Obama's healthcare legislation before the August recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged today, pushing consideration of the hotly-debated measure into September. The announcement comes at the same time that dozens of pro-life personalities and tens of thousands of pro-life activists are preparing to participate in a massive webcast tonight, to address the threats to the pro-life cause posed by Obama's health care plan in its current form.

The statement by Reid marks the demise of President Obama's aspiration to have the measure through both chambers of Congress before the five-week break – a lobbying effort that has escalated to fever pitch in recent days.

Sen. Reid, together with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had pushed Congress to meet President Obama's August deadline before today's dramatic reversal.  But Reid said that while the Senate Finance Committee may be able to pass a version of the bill on time, full Senate confirmation will have to wait.

Pelosi expressed defiance in the face of the the failure to meet the deadline.

“I'm not afraid of August. It's a month,” said the Speaker.  Pelosi also reversed her statement on Wednesday that she supported keeping Congressmen on Capitol Hill through the recess in order to pass the healthcare legislation.

According to a New York Times report, Obama declared forcefully to an Ohio crowd this afternoon that the plan – which has aroused loud condemnations from pro-life leaders decrying its potential to vastly expand abortion – will be done “by the end of this year.”  He then added, “I want it done by this fall.” 

Obama was in Ohio to gather support for the plan, which, according to recent polling data, has been losing favor among Americans.  The president said that he has no plans to keep Congressmen through the recess. 

Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan and Republican Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennylvania co-hosted a press conference yesterday in which they focused on the hidden potential of the bill to require taxpayer-funded abortion coverage and threaten state and federal abortion regulations.

“This issue is not about party politics. It's not about obstructionism. It is about saving lives and protecting pro-life Americans across the country,” said Rep. Pitts. 

Abortion, pro-lifers say, could become part of an “essential package” crafted under the auspices of the pro-abortion Secretary of Health and Human Services, with the result that private insurers could be pressured to include abortion in order to meet the government's standard for approval.  Several amendments offered to explicitly exclude abortion coverage or funding, as well as amendments to protect the conscience rights of doctors refusing to participate in abortions, have been rejected.

Rep. Stupak, one among a band of pro-life Democrats bucking heavy pressure from their own party to support the legislation, said the abortion issue could end up costing Obama.

“I think if they do not have [the abortion exclusion language] in there and President Obama says we are going to have a bill with nothing in there on abortion, I think it is going to backfire,” Stupak told a Washington reporter after the conference. “I think we bring down the rule and it will be explicitly discussed in the health care plan one way or another.”

Rep. Chris Smith, R- N.J. called the bill “the greatest threat ever to the lives and wellness of unborn children and their mothers since Roe v. Wade was rendered in 1973.”  Smith pointed to research from the Guttmacher Institute showing that 20%-35% of Medicaid eligible women who would have chosen abortion carried their children to term when public funding for the procedure was unavailable.    

Pro-lifers across America are gearing up for the “Stop the Abortion Mandate” webcast tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, where leaders will discuss the full dangers of Obama's healthcare plan, which has been dubbed “the silent FOCA.”  The Freedom of Choice Act, or FOCA, is a piece of legislation that would nullify all state and federal limitations on abortion, and hamstring the conscience rights of doctors who oppose abortion.

Organizers say that the webcast – which will feature pro-life personalities such as Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Rep. Chris Smith, and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council – is set to be the “single largest pro-life web event in history.”

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Obama: “Let's Not Get Distracted” over Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Coverage in Healthcare
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072212.html

More Pro-Life House Democrats Stand against Healthcare Abortion Funding
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/jul/09072211.html