Stupak Defends His Vote

In his article "Why I wrote the 'Stupak Amendment' and voted for health-care reform" ("Washington Post"), Representative Bart Stupak makes a sobering claim: "The true motives of many blogs and organizations claiming to be pro-life have become clear in recent days: to politicize life issues as a means to defeat health care reform." There is truth in what Representative Stupak has claimed. However, his statement idicating that the 216 votes required for House passage of the bill would be forthcoming without his (and his chiseled-down group of supporting representatives) vote is questionable. The health-care reform bill passed the House with a 219-212 vote. If only four of the once dozen or so members of the "Stupak Bloc" remained firm that the Stupak language be included in the final health-care reform legislation, the bill would not have had the necessary 216 votes. Further evidence of the need for the Stupak bloc in passing the health-care reform legislation is the fact that pro-abortion President Obama agreed to issue the executive order as a last minute concession to get the Stupak votes. Representative Stupak admits that "an executive order is not as strong as the statutory language we fought for at the start." Representative Stupak is pro-life, but, in the eyes of many pro-lifers, he settled for less than the best. May God give us political leaders who will not compromise on the issue of life.

May God have mercy on our nation.
United to Stop Abortion