Is it in or out? Alive or dead? It has become almost comical to see who is saying what on a daily basis. President Obama all but called the pro-abortion plan dead one day last week, and someone must have read him the riot act. The very next day, he was going to fight to the bitter end for health “insurance” reform.
Speaker Pelosi continues to glowingly claim that she will deliver health care reform to the American people, who have indicated in large numbers that she can keep her plan.
Bringing in Republicans to discuss ideas with the cameras rolling is the next step. Abortion funding as part of the package is still on the table for the Administration, Pelosi and Reid. Hopefully, the Republicans and Stupak and company will jettison that part of the plan. The mere fact that talking instead of voting is occurring indicates that Pelosi and Reid don’t have the votes for the pro-abortion measure they are desperate to push through. And, that is good news.
Next month marks the fifth anniversary of the starvation death of Terri Schindler Schiavo. It is both a vindication and a tragedy that new testing reveals some patients diagnosed as being in a “persistent vegetative state” can comprehend what is being said and answer simple questions. This in spite of their outward appearance of being unaware of their surroundings.
The Schindler family (Terri’s mother, father, brother and sister) begged for such tests to be done on Terri. The villain in the Schiavo case was and continues to be Judge Greer who never gave Terri a fighting chance. Greer refused the family’s request for sophisticated brain scanning. In the words of Wesley Smith, “I will go to my grave believing the judge knew what he didn’t want to know.” That Terri could indeed comprehend what was going on around her.
Beyond Terri, this new research has profound medical and ethical implications for patients who languish in a state in which they appear to lack awareness. Many decisions to remove life support systems, even feeding tubes, have been made based on the seemingly hopeless “persistent vegetative state” of the patient. Why allow the person to languish, they argue, when they have lost their humanity? Let them die a “dignified” death.
When Rom Houben, a Belgian man, “woke up” 23 years after being in a diagnosed PVS state and related that he was conscious that whole time, many scoffed and attempted to undermine this man’s experience and the findings of the medical people working with Houben. The new study gives further evidence that some patients really do have an “inner voice.”
“We were astonished when we saw the results of the patient’s scan and that he was able to correctly answer the questions that were asked by simply changing his thoughts,” said Dr. Adrian Owen who is the co-author of the new study. “Not only did these scans tell us that the patient was not in a vegetative state but, more importantly, for the first time in five years it provided the patient with a way of communicating his thoughts to the outside world. We can be pretty confident that he is entirely conscious. He has to understand the instructions, comprehend speech, and then make a decision.”
These findings open up a whole new universe in the thinking of the medical community and the decisions made by families. Most importantly, the findings breathe new life and hope into patients who cling to consciousness not evident to the outside world.
In an interview with ABC News, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) says that Congressional leaders and the White House are continuing work to hammer out an Obamacare “compromise” that can be passed by the Congress. Urging them on at a Town Hall meeting yesterday was the President himself.
While Rangel believes the Senate will use the “reconciliation” process to get the job done, Senate leader Harry Reid says that cannot be the first step. “We can’t go first,” said Reid. “I don’t know how procedurally we can start reconciliation.” Reconciliation normally is used only on budget, not policy, issues and allows the Senate to pass a bill shy of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.
Word is that Speaker Pelosi will first attempt to get a smaller bill approved dealing with the health care industry. This bill may not have abortion implications but it is too soon to tell.
It is the sickest of reality shows. Pregnant women (who aren’t really pregnant) tell stories about their “predicaments” and viewers are allowed to vote on whether they should have abortions. The show is called “Bump” and is a web-based creation.
As Kathleen Parker reported in her January 31 Washington Post column, the show was inspired by President Barack Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame. If that doesn’t make sense, neither does the rationale. Obama said he wanted to find ways to communicate about solutions for unintended pregnancies. Somehow, a reality show inviting the public to help make abortion decisions accomplishes that purpose.
“In the end, self-selecting strangers will become as a thousand Caesars, offering a thumbs up or down on the unborn,” says Parker. She finds the show and its premise “slightly creepy.” And, so do we.
The most-watched ad during Sunday’s Super Bowl is bound to be the Pam and Tim Tebow ad. Kudos to the pro-abortion individuals and groups who are trying desperately to convince America that this wholesome, heartfelt personal story is somehow akin to showing a beating on national television. All they are doing is piquing interest in the ad and revealing how pro-abortion and anti-choice they actually are.
How Pam Tebow’s story of refusing to abort her son while facing a serious health problem is a death blow to Roe v. Wade leaves people scratching their heads. America gets it, and groups like NOW fail to understand that they can no longer buffalo the American public into embracing their skewed views. Apparently the Gallup poll of last May showing that a majority of Americans now self-identity as pro-life was seen by them as an aberration. Even one of their staunchest allies, the New York Times, supports CBS in airing the ad.
Special thanks to Pam and Tim Tebow for putting their beliefs on the line by being a part of this historic commercial. Can’t wait to see it!
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) now confirms that a compromise had been reached on the differing Senate and House versions of Obamacare on January 15, four days before the revolutionary Massachusetts election of Scott Brown. The goal, as everyone knew, was to pass the bill before the President’s State of the Union Address, giving him the achievement of his prize piece of legislation.
Harkin told The Hill: “we had an agreement with the House, the White House and the Senate. We sent it to [the Congressional Budget Office] to get scored and then Tuesday happened and we didn’t get it back.” That’s how close we were to passage of this massive pro-abortion, health care rationing bill.
Pundits are now all over the place as to where Obamacare stands. Most are declaring it dead. But the congressional leadership is not about to give up that easily. They intend to use the reconciliation process, denying the Senate the ability to filibuster, to deliver their Obamacare compromise as a package of smaller bills. We must remain vigilant for the next chapter of Obamacare.
Fifty-two million American unborn children killed by abortion since 1973. The number is so staggering that to many it is unbelievable. Fifty-two million sons, daughters, grandsons, friends, nieces, nephews denied their very right to exist with a loss to society that cannot be calculated.
Different abortion numbers are reported from various sources. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides numbers of annual abortions which are not reliable because the CDC relies on voluntary reporting from many states and doesn’t have data from states like California (where the number is certain to be huge) and New Hampshire. Consequently, National Right to Life and Wisconsin Right to Life rely on numbers provided by the Guttmacher Institute (GI), the former research arm of Planned Parenthood.
Using the GI numbers, National Right to Life estimates that 52 million abortions have been performed in the past 37 years. Abortions once reached a high of 1.6 million annually. Current annual estimates are 1.2 million.
The woman most likely to have an abortion is between the ages of 18-34, unmarried and black.
Wisconsin has experienced one of the most dramatic abortion decreases in the country and certainly in the Midwest. Wisconsin abortions numbered 8,229 in 2008. That same year, Minnesota had 12,948 abortions, Michigan 25,970, and Illinois a whopping 47,717. Wisconsin Right to Life will continue its focused efforts to decrease abortions even further while we pray for the day when abortion is illegal and unthinkable.
The most telling message on health care reform in President Obama’s State of the Union address last night was his chiding the Senate for requiring 60 votes to pass a bill. Hint, hint: “reconciliation” is coming. Many supposedly knowledgeable pundits continue to claim that Obamacare is dead and the Senate would not dare to use the 51 vote reconciliation process, reserved only for budget not policy matters. Think again.
Speaker Pelosi now says she has the votes to pass the pro-abortion Senate health care bill as long as reconciliation can be used to pass another bill which includes the changes House members want. Obama gave her the push she needs in his speech. Wants the public to believe it is unfair to require 60 votes to pass a bill in the Senate, even though the Senate has been doing it for decades.
(As a sub-plot, enter Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska who now claims that if the health care bill is “right,” he will support reconciliation to pass it. )
Doug Johnson of National Right to Life warns that now is not the time to be lulled into complacency. As soon as Reid and Pelosi have their votes and their bill in place, Pelosi could put the Senate bill on the House floor within 24 hours. A dreadful prospect for the unborn children and older people who will be harmed if this monstrous bill is passed.
A bill (LB 104) has been introduced in Nebraska which would prohibit the performance of abortions after the fetus has the “physical structures necessary to experience pain.” The bill would require that an abortionist determine the gestational age of the unborn child before performing an abortion. It is well established scientifically that by 20 weeks gestation, the unborn child experiences substantial pain. The impact of this bill, if passed and upheld, is that abortions after about 20 weeks or later would no longer be legal if a state passes a law prohibiting such abortions.
LB 104, of course, flies in the face of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and presents a new challenge to the holdings in Roe which allows abortions to be performed throughout the full nine months of pregnancy.
Nebraska is a good state in which to set up such a challenge since notorious abortionist LeRoy Carhart publicly claims that he does abortions at 24 weeks gestation. Carhart has also assumed the mantle of the late George Tiller as the person to whom women can turn late in pregnancy for an abortion.
A bill and a state to watch as the first of its kind in the nation.
National Right to Life and other credible sources are reporting that Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi are coalescing on a strategy to pass Obamacare — not a watered-down version but the whole package. Here is how it would work:
1. House (as members hold their noses) passes pro-abortion Senate version of Obamacare with no amendments.
2. President Obama signs Obamacare into law.
3. 52 Senators agree ahead of time to changes demanded by House members
4. Senate comes up with a new bill which includes the “fixes” demanded by House members.
5. Reid brings the new bill up under “reconciliation” requiring only 51 votes, not the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster
6. The 52 Senators who pledged ahead of time to make these changes vote for the bill
7. House approves the new bill, President signs it into law
It is a subversion of the normal process and will make Americans very, very angry but leaders appear ready to try this as a last ditch effort to foist Obamacare on the country.
Action is needed immediately to contact House members and urge them to vote against the pro-abortion Senate version of Obamacare. Don’t bother to contact Senators at this time.
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