Next Pro-Life Battle: Repealing Abortion-Funding ObamaCare

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 4, 2010   |   11:08AM   |  

Now that pro-life elected officials are in firm control of the House and increased their numbers in the Senate, attention turns to the next battle for the pro-life movement:  repealing abortion-funding ObamaCare.

The election victories didn’t give the pro-life side enough votes in the Senate to control the legislative agenda, and President Barack Obama can still wield a veto pen, but that doesn’t mean top Republicans won’t press for repealing ObamaCare anyway.

They promised as much in their election document Pledge to America, and the two pro-life advocates expected to head the GOP in the House and Senate have both promised repealing ObamaCare is something they will push.

Representative John Boehner, expected to be named the next speaker of the House of Representatives, is vowing to press for the repeal of the ObamaCare law.

“I believe that the healthcare bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America, ruin the best healthcare system in the world, and bankrupt our country,” Boehner told a news conference yesterday. “That means we have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill and replace it with common sense reforms to bring down the cost of health care.”

“Our new majority will be the voice of the American people as they expressed it so clearly [in the elections],” he said.

The Senate’s Republican leader, pro-life Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, is joining his House counterpart and said Senate GOP lawmakers may press for repeated votes on repealing ObamaCare, if necessary.

And if Obama vetoes bills that would repeal the law, McConnell says Congressional Republicans should come back with efforts to de-fund the program or vote “piece by piece” against what he calls the law’s “most egregious provisions.”

At minimum, McConnell says the votes should be part of a concerted effort to turn Obama into a “one term president.”

In response, Obama said in a news conference: “I think we’d be misreading the election if we thought that the American people want to see us for the next two years re-litigate arguments that we had over the last two years.”

Another Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, said votes to try to repeal or weaken the pro-abortion health care takeover law are important to voters who elected Republicans on Tuesday.
“Let us be under no illusion — many of those who cast their vote for Republicans yesterday have their share of doubts about whether we are up to the task of governing; about whether congressional Republicans have learned our lesson,” he said.

A move to repeal, weaken or de-fund the pro-abortion ObamaCare bill will go over with pro-life advocates — especially after so many supposedly pro-life Democrats voted for the legislation.

Jay Sekulow of the pro-life legal group ACLJ said now that the elections are done and there were gains for the pro-life movement, “Now, we must keep the pressure on to make sure the right changes actually happen … starting with the repeal of the pro-abortion ObamaCare.

“While liberals in Congress had unfettered power, they tried to use their government takeover of health care to bail out the abortion industry. Obama’s health care law, if allowed to stand, will fund the largest expansion of abortion in America since Roe v. Wade … all using taxpayer dollars,” he added. “The new leadership in the House of Representatives says that they will make the repeal of ObamaCare a priority, but we need your support to help make sure it happens.”

Other pro-life groups strike a similar tone.

“When the so-called ‘pro-life’ Democrats caved, our mission had to change. By defeating 15 of 20 of these self-described pro-life Democrats, we have sent a clear message to Washington that voting against the deeply held pro-life views of your constituency has serious political consequences,” added Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenelser.

“With a new Congress full of energized pro-life leaders, we can finally begin to repair the damage that’s been done and restore America’s conscience and fiscal responsibility on the issue of taxpayer funding of abortion,” she said. “We know the majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.  In fact, this issue played a major role in many of the defeats we witnessed.”