This sign is from a Walk For Choice protest held in Gainesville, Florida, back in February. Though it's eight months old, I thought it's message was especially poignant.
Last month, President Obama released The American Jobs Act, a bill that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor publicly called "dead" before it even reached Congress. Last Thursday, the political party that has been shouting from the rooftops that job creation is their number one priority, spent the entire day debating a new bill. Was it an alternative to President Obama's job's bill? Was it an economic stimulus plan?
No. It was an abortion bill.
The House of Representatives debated and passed the Protect Life Act. Many critics call it the "Let Women Die Act". The act essentially does two things.
One, it mandates that no tax payer funds go to fund abortions. Essentially, they're making a law to back up an existing law. It would be like Congress holding a special session to write up legislation making murder illegal. It's already illegal. Taxpayer money hasn't funded abortions since the early nineties. They may as well have called this portion of the bill the "Act of Redundancy Act".
The bill also makes it illegal for women to buy health insurance plans for themselves that cover abortions under the Affordable Care Act, also known as the Obama Administration's Health Care Reform Act.
The most controversial and disturbing part of the legislation is in the freedoms it grants to health care providers. Current law requires hospitals give patients in life threatening situations the care they need, regardless of financial situation or their moral stance. The Protect Life Act would give an emergency room in, say a Catholic hospital, the right to refuse to perform an abortion on a patient, even if it meant that she would die as a result.
It's likely that the bill will not make it through the Democratic controlled Senate. If, somehow it does, there is a strong chance that President Obama will veto this monstrosity if it ever reaches his desk.
As I was writing this article, something hit me. Every single Republican presidential candidate says that their priority is "job creation". In fact, there was a period of about three months where, regardless of what question you asked Michele Bachmann, she refused to answer it. During every interview she said that 1.) She was running for the presidency of the United States, and 2.) she was "there to talk about job creation". It was as if she was a prisoner of war, and she was giving her name, rank and serial number.
Interesting fact: Since announcing her run for the White House, Bachmann has missed 46% of the votes in Congress. She hasn't cast a single vote, in fact, since the first of August. Yet, on October 6th, she introduced a piece of legislation called The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act. It requires abortion providers to show the fetus on an ultrasound to the mother, and play it's heartbeat before the abortion is performed. Under the law, if the health care provider refuses to show the images or play the audio, they would be subject to a $100,000 fine.
According to Republicans, this is "job creation", folks. And you wonder why there are thousands of people camped out in New York City. What bullshit.
