Pro-Life Groups Applaud Judge’s Ruling Against ObamaCare

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 13, 2010   |   6:01PM   |   Washington, DC

Leading pro-life groups responded to a federal judge’s decision today striking down the individual mandate portion of the ObamaCare law that they have opposed over abortion funding.

Every major pro-life organization has released a legal analysis of the ObamaCare bill saying it lacks sufficient provisions to stop abortion funding. They have also had to work to stop the Obama administration from funding abortions in three states through the high risk health insurance pools.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life legal group,  called the federal district court decision in Virginiadeclaring the individual mandate of the health care law unconstitutional a “sound decision” which “guts pro-abortion ObamaCare” and represents a “decisive and significant victory for America.” 

The ACLJ backed Virginia’s lawsuit challenging ObamaCare in filing an amicus brief representing 28 members of Congress – including incoming House Speaker John Boehner and incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor – as well as more than 70,000 Americans.  

“We’re very pleased the federal court reached a sound decision and concluded that the individual insurance mandate is an unconstitutional violation of the Commerce Clause,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.

He told LifeNews.com: “This decision guts ObamaCare and represents a decisive and significant victory for America against the largest power-grab by the federal government in U.S. history.  The court correctly concluded that forcing someone to buy health insurance is not economic activity and that Congress does not have that authority under the Commerce Clause.  We’re already working on an amicus brief on behalf of members of Congress in support of the Commonwealth of Virginia as this case proceeds through the appeals process.”

Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden of the pro-life legal group Alliance Defense Fund, also weighed in on the decision.

“No one should be forced to pay for an unconstitutional federal takeover of health care that will funnel taxpayer dollars into the pockets of abortionists and lead inevitably toward death panels for the elderly and infirm. Congress showed blatant disregard for the Constitution, and that’s the pivotal issue here,” he told LifeNews.com.

Matt Smith of the pro-life group Catholic Advocate had this to say:

“In preparation for the fight in the highest court, Catholic Advocate has mailed out thousands of amicus brief petitions that we are prepared to present to the court on behalf of Americans opposed to Obama-care.

“Catholic Advocate will continue to support Attorney General Cuccinelli and others working on behalf of the people to fight the Obama-care mandates against individual liberty and the sanctity of Life.”

Family Research Council’s Special Legal Counsel Ken Klukowski made the following comments and was one of the few to say the judge did not go far enough:

“We applaud Judge Hudson for striking down the individual mandate recognizing that no part of the Constitution empowers the federal government to command American citizens to spend their own personal money to purchase health insurance.

“However, the judge failed to properly apply the Supreme Court’s rulings that under these circumstances he must strike down the entire Obamacare law. As explained in our brief filed in another Obamacare case, and as we will file in this case as it goes on appeal, the individual mandate is essential to a complex law. Striking down the mandate requires a court to strike down the entire statute and return the matter entirely to Congress.

“We call on the incoming Congress to quickly move to repeal this unconstitutional law in its entirely not merely to tinker with various provisions. Such tinkering would likely doom the legal challenges that are the best hope for dooming this fundamentally flawed law that is a high taxing, poorly thought out, and taxpayer funding of abortion monstrosity.”

Penny Nance, the CEO of Concerns Women for America, also applauded the ruling:

“It is good to see that we still have judges who take seriously the oath they took to operate within the powers granted to them by the Constitution. The court recognized that the federal government has no power to force Americans to buy a private good and penalize them if they do not. It is nonsensical for the federal government to argue that not engaging in an economic activity is, in fact, an ‘economic activity’ in the law.

“The individual mandate is just one part of the many troubling issues with ObamaCare. This ruling represents the first step in protecting families from an overreaching federal government that is out of control. We hope the ruling is upheld on appeal and that Congress takes the necessary action to repeal the entire law to fully protect families and children.”

And Gary Bauer, a pro-family leader who heads American Values, says pro-life advocates need to pay attention because the decision is just the beginning:

This is not the end of the debate. Later this week, a federal court in Florida will hear a challenge brought by nearly two dozen states. Eventually, the Supreme Court will weigh in too. In the meantime, we will continue to raise the issue with friends on Capitol Hill when the next Congress convenes in January. A new Rasmussen poll released today finds that 60% of likely voters support repealing ObamaCare. I expect the new Congress will be much more receptive to the will of the people than the current one.