ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Nov. 12 2009

A critical test for Democrats
By Colleen Carroll Campbell

Critics of Obamacare have argued that the Democratic Party's health care reform
plan is a stalking horse for socialized medicine and taxpayer-funded abortion.
By supporting an amendment to the House health care bill that bars the use of
federal funds for insurance coverage of abortion, moderate Democrats have given
their party leaders a perfect opportunity to refute the second part of that
claim — if only those leaders would take it.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and supported by 174
Republicans and 64 Democrats, was a late addition to the sweeping House health
care bill that narrowly passed Saturday night — an addition without which that
bill may not have passed. The principle behind the Stupak amendment is simple:
Abortion is not health care, and taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize it
as such.

That principle enjoys strong public support. According to a recent Rasmussen
Reports survey, nearly half of Americans believe that any government-subsidized
health care plan should be prohibited from covering abortions, while only 13
percent believe such plans should be required to cover abortions.

Those numbers reflect a larger national shift toward pro-life attitudes in
recent years, one that has propelled many moderate, pro-life Democrats to
office despite the abortion-rights orthodoxy that reigns in their party's
leadership ranks. A Gallup Poll taken in May found that, for the first time
since Gallup began asking the question in 1995, a majority of Americans now
identify themselves as "pro-life" rather than "pro-choice."

The House Democrats who joined Republicans in supporting the Stupak amendment
have been paying attention to such polls and to constituents who do not want to
see their tax dollars paying for other people's abortions. In pressing House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi to allow a vote on the amendment and threatening to reject
the House health care bill without it, these moderates fulfilled their campaign
promises to seek reasonable solutions to contentious cultural issues.

The Stupak amendment is, after all, a modest measure. Its ban on the use of
federal funds for abortion coverage applies to the government-run plan, or
"public option," and to insurers who sell plans through a proposed health
insurance exchange. Consumers still may purchase abortion coverage as long as
no federal subsidies or Medicaid matching funds are used. And the funding
restrictions do not apply to abortions performed in cases of rape, incest or to
save the life of the mother.

Even these minimal limits have incensed the Democratic Party's powerful
abortion lobby. After months of lecturing Americans about the vital need for
this health care legislation while publicly downplaying the abortion angle, the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the National Organization for
Women have declared their opposition to the health care bill because of the
amendment. Obama, who said earlier that Americans should "not get distracted"
by concern about abortion funding when contemplating his health care plan, now
says that the very amendment that removes that distraction needs "more work" —
an indication that he aims to fulfill his 2007 pledge to the Planned Parenthood
Action Fund to put "reproductive care ... at the heart of the plan that I
propose" for health care. Meanwhile, some 40 Democratic lawmakers are
threatening to torpedo the health care legislation they once championed if the
Stupak amendment survives.

The looming Senate debate over abortion funding will force Democratic leaders
to decide which they value more: the creation of a big-tent party that welcomes
moderates and respects the concerns of America's burgeoning pro-life majority
or the appeasement of a small band of ideologues who consider abortion funding
the party's top legislative goal. Party leaders may not be grateful to the
moderates who backed the Stupak amendment, but voters who want to know the
truth about the party's priorities should be.

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, television and radio host and St.
Louis-based fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Her website is
www.colleen-campbell.com.