"Common Ground" Bill Gets Backing of Abortion Advocates, No Pro-Life Groups

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 23, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

"Common Ground" Bill Gets Backing of Abortion Advocates, No Pro-Life Groups

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 23
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — When is common ground on the divisive abortion issue not really common ground? When members of Congress float a bill that is essentially a bailout for Planned Parenthood and it gains the backing of pro-abortion groups and leaders and not one pro-life organization climbs aboard.

As LifeNews.com previously reported earlier this week, the measure is touted as the Preventing Unintended Pregnancies, Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act.

Democratic Reps. Tim Ryan, of Ohio, and Rosa DeLauro, of Connecticut are behind the bill, which does little more than provide additional taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and efforts to promote birth control and sexual education.

Ryan is known for his about face on pro-life issues — changing from a rare pro-life Democrat to voting for abortion funding and getting kicked off the Democrats for Life advisory board as a result.

The measure contains no laws limiting abortion and no direct help for pregnancy centers that provide women with abortion alternatives — both of which have been proven to reduce abortions.

Thus, it is no surprise that Planned Parenthood supports the bill as does DeLauro’s former employer, the abortion advocacy group NARAL.

"Reps. Ryan and DeLauro have demonstrated how reaching across the divide to find common-ground solutions to prevent unintended pregnancy is possible," NARAL’s Nancy Keenan trumpeted in a press release today.

Yet, there is no such common ground effort because pro-life advocates say there is no common ground on giving even more money to the nation’s largest abortion business.

LifeNews.com repeatedly emailed Ryan’s press secretary, Brad Bauman, to obtain a list of the pro-life groups and individuals who supposedly endorsed the bill. We’ve yet to receive such a list, and the preliminary list Bauman sent includes no pro-life groups or leaders who back the bill.

Speaking for many of the pro-life advocates LifeNews.com has heard from, Concerned Women for America president Wendy Wright says the bill re-hashes approaches that have been tried, funded, and failed to reduce abortions.

Wright condemns Ryan for calling the bill "a unique approach" inspired by "the spirit of President Barack Obama’s call to find common ground between the pro-choice and pro-life communities."

"The Ryan/DeLauro bill will fund abortion groups and programs such as ‘comprehensive sex-ed’ — which has no evidence of reducing abortions," she said. "No pro-life group with a proven track record backs this bill."

"The supporters are nearly all hard-core abortion groups. It includes a smattering of groups with names that people assume to be pro-life but are fronts for abortion activists," Wright added. "None of the people backing this bill are considered recognized and experienced pro-life leaders by the pro-life community."

Wright says calling the bill a "common ground" effort is disingenuous because the person who drafted the bill is former general counsel for Planned Parenthood.

"This bill is a ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing’ to direct more tax dollars and clients to groups like Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the nation," she said.

"President Obama and liberals in Congress are feeling the heat from pro-lifers over the massive health care bill which includes abortion mandates and funding. The timing of this bill appears to be an attempt to distract people from the larger bill that will impose the Freedom of Choice Act by stealth," Wright explains.

"But pro- lifers are not fooled — a vote for either Ryan/DeLauro or the health care bill is a vote to increase abortions," she concluded.

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