WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As the federal government appears headed toward a shutdown over the issue whether or not to fund Planned Parenthood, pro-abortion leaders have ratcheted up the rhetoric, with one Representative claiming that pro-life House Republican members are seeking to “to kill women.”
CNSNews.com reports that U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) spoke against the pro-life amendments at a pro-abortion rally held Thursday. There she accused the Republican-led House of putting women’s lives in danger by getting the federal government out of the business of financing abortion or financially supporting organizations that perform abortion.
Slaughter recounted the last time Republicans swept into control of the House to cut government spending. “In ’94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women,” she said.
Slaughter also ridiculed the rape, incest, and life of the mother exceptions in H.R. 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which makes permanent the Hyde Amendment and other pro-life riders that have to be renewed annually. Slaughter took particular exception to the bill’s provision that one could not claim federal tax or health deductions for abortion unless one fits the above criteria, alleging that meant women would have to “keep a receipt.”
“It’s sort of like an old German Nazi movie. ‘Show me your papers!’” she said.
Slaughter spoke at the “Stand Up for Women’s Health” rally on the National Mall, which was sponsored by the National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Sen. Majority Whip Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also spoke at the rally, and told the crowd that the U.S. Senate would rather shut down the government than deny millions of dollars in federal funds to Planned Parenthood.
“The dangerous, ideological cuts to Planned Parenthood that passed the House are never, never, never going to pass the Senate,” he said. “Let me repeat that, so all those who want to stomp on women’s health and women’s rights can hear us loud and clear. The dangerous, ideological cuts to Planned Parenthood that passed the House are never, never, never going to pass the Senate.”
The GOP-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate are deadlocked on both a short-term Continuing Resolution to fund the government another week to allow more room for budget negotiations, and the longer-term CR which would fund the government until September. Both have stalled over the issue of funding cuts for abortion and Planned Parenthood.
Both leading Senate Democrats and President Obama say they will refuse to approve the short-term CR, which reinstates the Dornan amendment preventing D.C. public money from financing abortion. Despite its history of bipartisan support since President Bill Clinton signed it into law, the amendment has become a roadblock in the current debate. Sources on Capitol Hill say that a vote in the Senate on the short-term CR would be “very close.”