Pro-Life Members of Congress Take Issue With Obama on Abortion Funding
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 10, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — In a Thursday press conference, several pro-life members of Congress took issue with President Barack Obama’s health care speech. They said Obama was being disingenuous by saying the bills in Congress do not fund abortions and they challenged him to support a real abortion funding ban.
Obama said “under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortion.”
Congressman Chris Smith, the head of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus and a New Jersey representative, responded with a little sarcasm — suggesting that Obama may finally be coming around to support the funding ban amendment.
"Is the president telling us now that he will now accept the Stupak/Pitts amendment?" he asked.
"Or were last night’s words merely a reiteration of his August 19 telephone conference call when he said ‘you’ve heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion. Not true.’"
Smith continued, "There was an implicit recognition by the president last night that Americans reject public funding for abortion, and that Americans do not want to be complicit in the dismemberment or clinical poisoning of unborn children and the wounding of their mothers."
"Killing human babies by abortion is not health care," he added. "Publicly funding and facilitating abortion can in no way be construed as health care reform."
"Obama recognizes this political reality and is seeking ‘pull one over’ on the American public saying that his plan won’t fund abortion," Smith said, according to a statement LifeNews.com received. "Yet even the nonpartisan FactCheck.org has called him on this fallacious and deceptive claim."
"Obama must be held accountable for his words," Smith concluded.
"If he intends to support the pro-life amendments that have thus far been deleted by pro-abortion members of his party, we welcome that," he said. "But the truth is that he seeks to cover up his intention to use the government-run public plan to send checks from the U.S. treasury to abortionists around the country. And, use government subsidies to pay for health care plans that cover abortion."
Rep. Joe Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican, spoke after Smith.
He said his amendment is "not about the legality or illegality of abortion… this is [health care reform] keeping the government out of the abortion business.”
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