Sunday, October 16, 2011

Is There Anything This Woman Won't Say?

Just a short time before the House took a vote forbidding the use of federal funds to pay for any part of a health plan that covers abortion, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the bill would mean that "women can die on the floor." Fifteen House Democrats joined the Republicans in voting for what the president of NARAL called The Let Women Die Act.

The bill is aimed at one portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Prior law forbade direct use of federal funds for abortion, but Obamacare slipped in provisions which did by the back door what it couldn't do through the front. Rather than pay for the abortion directly, Obamacare allowed abortion to be paid for by insurance plans which accept federal funds. The bill bans that practice.

The bill also covered another problem created by Obamacare. It prevents punitive action against any health care provider who refuses to perform or assist in performing an abortion based on moral or religious objections. It's important to note that as we review the Democratic hysteria over the bill, it doesn't ban abortion, just direct or indirect federal funding of it. Multiple polls have shown that somewhere between 65% and 70% of Americans who may otherwise have divergent views on abortion itself oppose federal funding of abortion in any form.

The Republican position on the bill was that Obamacare contains loopholes galore that allow the use of federal subsidies and stimuli for the purpose of purchasing insurance plans that cover abortion. Many of the supporters of the new bill (called the Protect Life Act) clearly believe that Obamacare must be repealed in its entirety, but wanted to take an early step in that agenda by eliminating one of the most egregious of Obamacare's flaws. Unlike many of the provisions of Obamacare which are purely economic nostrums or bureaucratic "solutions," this flaw flagrantly allowed federal funding for a medical procedure abhorrent to a substantial number of Americans.

Pelosi went off on a journey of free-association in discussing the bill. "Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor and health care providers do not have to intervene. It's just appalling. It falls right into their--all, it's a health issue." In other words, if the doctors don't perform a procedure which would terminate a perfectly normal pregnancy, a woman will die on the floor while the doctors stand by and swap golf stories.

Perhaps she doesn't realize that if a woman comes into a Catholic hospital bleeding heavily from a botched abortion performed elsewhere, those Catholic doctors will do everything in their power to save the mother (and the baby, if it still lives). But what can you expect? This is a practicing Catholic woman who lectures the bishops and the Pope on their misinterpretations of the Bible and their incorrectness on Church doctrine.

For a woman her age, Pelosi has amazing lung power. She can string together thoughts in random order and pronounce them without taking a breath. Example: "This is a health care issue and it falls right in with a lot of other initiatives that they [the Republicans] had coming up on the floor (where the women are dying?) about clean air, clean water, mercury, you name it--America's families deserve better than this and, again, today is another example of a wasted opportunity, instead of taking up even an aspect of the president's job bill that could create jobs they're--I can't even describe to you the logic of what is is that they are doing, I just know that you will see a large number of women on the floor today (dying women?) fighting for women's health issues, as well as to point out how savage this is about withholding care for a woman because of this legislation." Whew! I'll bet she could blow out a 150 birthday candle cake without taking a second breath.

Pelosi also went on to say "this is not a jobs bill." No, really? "Everybody in America has the creation of jobs as their top priority and what we are doing is wasting time. Every woman in America should be concerned with this assault on women's rights. This is just one aspect of women's health. But it has an impact across the board on how women get their health insurance. It's a waste of time." So if I'm hearing her right, women's health and access to abortion is vitally important, but it's a waste of time because jobs are at stake.

National Right to Life Director Douglass Johnson said: "President Obama won enactment of Obamacare in 2010 partly by pretending that the bill did not expand abortion. But now the mask is coming off. Obamacare contains multiple provisions designed to authorize federal subsidies for abortion." The Protect Life Act removes those subsidies. But it does not prevent any woman who wants health care insurance with abortion coverage from purchasing it. It just prevents them from purchasing federally-subsidized insurance which provides coverage for abortions.

The bill passed the House on a vote of 251-172 (236 Republicans and 15 Democrats in favor). There are two hurdles remaining. First, the Senate helmed by Democrat Harry Reid may never even get to vote if Reid uses his parliamentary tricks to keep the vote away from his colleagues. Even if Reid doesn't manage to table the bill, passage in the Senate is far from a sure thing. And in the event that the bill does pass the Senate, there's that final roadblock in the White House.

President Obama will have to do some serious spinning to come up with a reason to veto the bill. But spin he will. He spent months on the political trail obscuring the Obamacare loopholes for abortion because he claims to believe that federal funding should not be used for abortion. He can't veto the bill on that basis, then, without having another lie added to the long list of lies he has told. He might try to do his new "capitalist" thing, and claim that the bill interferes with the right to private contract. Who knows? But it is highly likely that he will veto the bill if it ever gets to his desk.

18 comments:

AndrewPrice said...

Yeah, I saw this and just shook my head. What a hateful woman. I'm not even sure what else to say about her at this point.

Unknown said...

Andrew: But ya gotta admit that she's one of the best things ever to happen to the Republican Party. LOL

BevfromNYC said...

So is it possible for someone who purchases gov't subsidized health insurance to purchase private supplemental insurance that would cover abortions like supplemental Medicare coverage for seniors? I see the potential for a whole new private insurance product here.

Unknown said...

Bev: In theory, at least, this bill prohibits federal funding for any insurance which provides abortion benefits. The legislation includes language providing for tracing sources back to riders, re-insurance and supplemental insurance carriers. How well that would work out in practice is another story entirely. Any insurance company which will provide abortion benefits completely divorced from any policy partially or wholly funded with federal money is supposed to be prohibited. I'm just trying to picture exactly how they would market private insurance which only covers abortion. It wouldn't be pretty.

Tennessee Jed said...

Dear Doctor Lawkawk: I really need to know what you actually think. Does she say these things to get attention and bug us? Did she take too many drugs? Does she think this plays to her electorate? (She may actually be right on that.)

Confused in Tennessee

T-Rav said...

Pelosi's become so obviously idiotic lately that both parties seem to have stopped listening to her. She's been excluded from a lot of the recent co-chamber meetings, but I think she still believes they'll win back the House next year and she'll get to be Speaker again. What a loon.

CrisD said...

The call goes out to the liberal women to abort, to vote, to march and not ever ever vote R! She doesn't want them to pay attention to any other issues! She is the Queen of the empty Uterus!

Unknown said...

Tennessee: I've thought of all those possibilities, and still come to the conclusion that she's just dumber than dirt and suffers from a serious case of chronic logorrhea.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Oops, I forgot to add "delusional" to the diagnosis I gave Tennessee Jed.

Unknown said...

CrisD: Now be fair. She's only thinking of creating new jobs by educating illegal immigrants with in-state tuition and grants/scholarships so they can go to medical school and learn how to perform assembly-line abortions. That way, she gets to tout medical care, "choice," and immigration all at once.

T-Rav said...

LawHawk, I read through your comment and for a second thought you had written "gonorrhea," not "logorrhea." Ewww...

But the Cards are up 9-4 right now against Milwaukee, so it's all good. :-)

rlaWTX said...

I realize that SF is the capital of the fruits and nuts brigade in CA, but why, oh why, does this woman get elected to anything, repeatedly?

(although on a personal note, I LOVELOVELOVE it when she spouts inanity and insanity. It makes my personal loathing of her seem so much righter.)

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Heavens, I would never say gonorrhea. But then, gonorrhea and syphilis, if left undiagnosed or untreated can cause brain damage. Hmmmmm.

I have no dog in the baseball series fight, so I'm just glad you're rooting for the team that's winning.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: If I had a few dozen pages to explain San Francisco politics, I would. But even then, it still wouldn't make any sense to an outsider. So just let me say that Pelosi is a charter member of the ruling Praetorian Guard of the Democratic Party that determines who will or will not hold elected office. Nobody gets on the ballot to challenge them. It doesn't matter if they're nuts, in fact it's almost a requirement. The only rule is that the elected representatives must do whatever benefits that small cadre of ultra-rich Democratic guards. What's good for America is rarely what's good for them.

And then there's the other factor, of course. San Fran Nan's district is almost exclusively in the City of San Francisco. This is the same city that passes ordinances eliminating "pet owners" and replacing them with "human companions," banning circumcision, allowing public sex on the streets (but inside a makeshift tent), and refusing to turn illegal immigrants over to the feds even if they have an arrest record as long as your arm. Compared to the Board of Supervisors, Nancy Pelosi is the picture of sanity.

T-Rav said...

Stand by for an important announcement:

Cardinals win NL Pennant! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Thanks for the BigJournalism link. I'm sure one of us will be using info from it in future posts. This Occupy crap is not going to go away anytime soon, and the only things they were lacking were a coherent message and organization. It looks like the "neutral" msm are going to help them out with that.

tryanmax said...

This, of course, begs the question: is it better for a child to be aborted than to be born into intellectual poverty?

I especially like the part about "...I can't even describe to you the logic of what it is that they are doing..." One must first possess logic in order to describe it.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: All San Francisco Democrats are required to take a course at San Francisco City College called Illogic 101. In case a potential candidate has a smidgen of ability to put facts together and come up with a sensible conclusion, the course teaches them how to suppress that ability. Pelosi passed the course with flying colors and she was actually asleep during the exam.

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