Anti-abortion Democrat Bart Stupak has a problem with Obama's health reforms

As far as northern Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak is concerned, no federal funding for abortions has been the law of the land since 1976.

And as far as Stupak is concerned, his fellow Democrat Barack Obama agreed that the president's idea of healthcare reform does not include federal funding of abortion.

But that seems about to change.

Stupak is a nine-term representative, a Catholic and a former police officer, who's destroyed recent Republican opponents with up to 69% of the vote.

Stupak says he's run up against a stonewall with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other fellow Democrats in seeking to protect that 33-year-old ban in the evolving healthcare reform legislation.

He says he's got 40 fellow House members who stand with him, most of them who'll vote against any reform bill without the antiabortion protection. And Stupak asserts he's prepared to lose his job over this stand.

Actually, he puts it pretty clearly and succinctly himself on this C-SPAN video. See what he says: right here

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Video courtesy of C-SPAN.

Comments

[Terry]

News flash: destroying a human being in the womb is not healthcare.

[Father Frank Pavone]

Pro-life Rep. Bart Stupak is confident he has 40 like-minded Democrats who will vote with him to force a floor vote on his amendment to exclude abortion funding from the health care bill. We at Priests for Life support his efforts and pray those like-minded Democrats and Republicans come through for the unborn. Thousands of babies die every day, and to allow federal funding to increase that number is simply contrary to reason and public opinion.

[1silentknight]

What a breath of fresh air to hear a congressperson vote his conscience instead of being brought off by the special interest groups. The Lord is hearing our prayers to stop the murder of the unborn.

[Camron Barth]

Good for him

[Kirk Davis]

It's clear that Rep. Bart Stupak has core principles, and is sticking to them; I hope he doesn't actually vote against a bill that will provide heath-care for millions who currently can't afford it, on the basis of just this one issue, though.

Politics is, ultimately, about compromising on some things in order to achieve other goals. Perhaps, as a religious man who has seen the suffering of the poor, Rep. Stupak can ultimately compromise on a relatively narrow issue (whether abortions have Federal funding or not - either way, government picks up the tab for some, just at the state level instead) for the greater good of insuring hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of innocent children who currently don't get any medical attention at all.

[Andy Eppink]

Wow. A politician with a backbone, the rarest of species. Way to go Mr. Stupak. Maybe a few of the gutless wonders will follow your example.
Thx.

[Camron Barth]

Good for him.

[MS]

The First Amendment to our Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." establishes our principle of the separation of Church and State. The founding fathers had very good reasons to do this based on European experiences.

Instead of a politician voting his "conscience" I would prefer he vote with his brain.

And for everybody who wants to piously protect the lives of the unborn, take a look at your own lives. Are you as innocent as those lives?

God and democracy do not mix. Please set up your theocracy somewhere else. try Iran.

[Nora Hernandez]

It is unfortunate that in just a matter of months a President can "push" a plan through in it's entirety without being able to see the "loopholes" that were added If we do not speak out against this Healthcare Reform then it won't be long before even "babies" are killing "babies. The abortion issue should not be included in a Healthcare Reform plan in the first place. Isn't health insurance supposed to help protect the sanctity of human life & not help destroy it?

[David C Stout]

After watching this clip, I have to say that I have profound respect for Mr. Stupak. I wish that there were more left-leaning and moderate people (a group in which I would place myself) who took a strong public stand on the principle that defending innocent human life is NOT a religious matter but is a fundamental question of human rights.