Abortion talking points

As part of its $1.5 million voter education effort, The Susan B. Anthony List "Votes Have Consequences Express" wraps up a 23-city bus tour to Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania today, including a midday stop here in Grove City, Pa. The purpose of the pro-life group's tour is to draw attention to six Democrats who call themselves "pro life" but gave a thumbs-up to Obamacare and its abortion funding: Reps. Steve Dreihaus and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Reps. Baron Hill and Joe Donnelly and Sen. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, and our representative here in western Pennsylvania, Kathy Dahlkemper.

The 280,000-member organization, which seeks to advance the role of pro-life women in the political process, developed a set of talking points to stay on message during the tour:

If pro-life Democrats would have kept their word and supported the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to the healthcare bill, there would be no concern about taxpayer funding of abortions. Instead, trusting a substitute measure---an executive order from President Obama---they passed the bill without the Stupak-Pitts Amendment. The executive order, however, does not address the healthcare bill's accounting gimmick that allows for abortion funding and lacks the legal weight and permanence necessary to prevent taxpayer-funded abortions via the healthcare bill. Executive orders have a history of being overturned in court and can be rescinded at any president's whim. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) assessment commissioned by U.S Sens. Enzi and Coburn concluded that the language in the healthcare bill and the executive order is insufficient at preventing taxpayer-funded abortions. In response to a Department of Health and Human Services statement, the White House is already backing away from the executive order. Congress must repeal the healthcare law or pass the Protect Life Act to ensure no federal dollars will pay for abortions, because as each new program is implemented there will be years of battles over how elective abortions will be covered. The White House has made clear that prohibiting taxpayer-funded abortions in one program will not necessarily be applied when implementing other programs.

I think the list is compelling but I'd like to add a few more points:

At best, the Democrats targeted by the bus tour were duped by Democrat leadership and showed poor judgment in voting for the healthcare bill. Elected officials should not gamble with life and liberty based on an order from a president who has already withdrawn the "Mexico City Policy" executive order (Presidents Reagan and Bush 43) prohibiting the funding of foreign abortions. Protecting life and liberty has been the cause of every American generation since the founding. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln called for a new birth of freedom. Past generations have succeeded in delivering a new birth of freedom to America and it is this generation's turn to join the battle starting on Election Day, November 2. As the Susan B. Anthony List educational bus tour name suggests, votes have consequences . . . including a new birth of freedom.