Men Of Principle
by digby
Stupak's getting quite a bit of press this morning for this:
Democrats would kill healthcare over abortion
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.
"Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility," Stupak said on ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion.
"Let's face it. I want to see healthcare. But we're not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about," he said.
He doesn't want to see health care. The Senate bill does not allow the government to pay for abortions and the entire argument is ridiculous on its face. This is not about principle. It's pretty clear that it's about the religious right caring more about regaining its political clout and hoping that the failure of health care reform will be rewarded by the GOP. And Bart Stupak is their accomplice.
I'm waiting for a liberal health care reform advocate to tell me that pro-choice people in the House need to offer up a bill that would prohibit anyone from paying for an abortion if their money has ever been touched by someone who is opposed to it -- or perhaps offer to give up the right to abortion altogether. And if they refuse, they will be accused of being uncaring about all those people who will be harmed by their willful refusal to compromise for the greater good and lectured about all the poor women who will get other kinds of care if they will just make this one silly little compromise.
Oddly, I haven't heard a lot of commentators making that argument about the staunch Catholic, Bart Stupak. But then that would be rude because he's allegedly arguing from religious conviction while the feminists who are desperately trying to hang on to some form of access to their right to own their bodies are just being selfish Divas. So, it's completely different.
Update: Here's more from Jessica Arons at The Nation.
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