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Email: "Exclusive Look: Across the Aisle, Pro-Life Bond Strong in Health Care Fight"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., February 19, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.com, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-life Caucus, provided an inside look into the “strong bond” that pro-life Democrats and Republicans of the Pro-Life Caucus have with each other, how the health-care fight has made them even stronger, and what challenges the pro-life Democrats face for their heroic stand. (To view the full transcript of LSN's interview with Rep. Smith, click here.) “When you stand toe-to-toe on principle for a noble cause and a selfless clause – no one benefits from this except people we will potentially never see – it forms a bond,” said Smith. Smith also gave some insight into the enormous pressure and threats pro-life Democrats – his close friends and colleagues – face for bucking their leadership and standing behind the Pitts-Stupak amendment, which prevents any taxpayer funding from subsidizing health-care plans that would pay for abortions.  No one perhaps feels the pressure more than Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), also co-chairman of the Pro-life Caucus and co-author of the Pitts-Stupak amendment. “Bart Stupak and the other pro-life Democrats – they care so deeply about unborn children,” said Smith. “I know Bart really cares deeply – there is nothing superficial about the man – he really cares about the children and equally their mothers.”  The congressman responded to some criticism from pro-life and fiscal conservative quarters, that claimed health-care reform would have failed in the House of Representatives had the Stupak amendment never made it into the final bill. “They had votes in their pocket if Pitts-Stupak had not been offered,” explained Smith, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) – the latter known as an expert vote counter. Nevertheless, pro-life Democrats “have hardened their position” and will reject weaker language on abortion funding “no matter how cleverly it is presented,”  said Smith - meaning that abortion may very well become the final roadblock to a health-care bill. “I’ve heard so many people say, ‘I’m with Bart, we’re standing by him.’ It is a testimony to him again being a courageous man," said the congressman. "A lot of people bend with the wind, he stepped into the wind.”See full transcript of LSN's interview with Rep. Smith, click here.See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:Stupak, Dems Reaffirm 'No' Vote on Pro-Abortion Health Bill White House Pressuring Rep. Stupak into Silence on Abortion Stupak to White House: Strip Pro-Life Amendment to Health Bill's Peril http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-look-across-the-aisle-pro-life-bond-strong-in-health-care-fight/

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