Health Care Fight to Continue

In the end, the Obama Administration did what it needed to do to pass a pro-abortion health care plan.  With last-minute deal making, the final vote was 219-to-212, clearing the 216 vote hurdle needed for passage. 

We're grateful to the hundreds of thousands of ACLJ supporters who stood with us in this battle.  And, while we were able to highlight the dangerous aspects of this health care package, we want you to know that this is not the end.  We are preparing even now to take this fight into the litigation stage, to defend your rights against unconstitutional mandates and significant government intrusion into your healthcare.

With the passage of the health care package by a very slim margin, the fact is this vote hinged as we told you it would on the votes of the so-called pro-life Democrats.  As you know, a group of approximately 12 members led by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan had vowed to oppose the bill unless there were assurances written into the bill that federal funds would not flow to abortions.  Unfortunately, in recent days, several of these 12 succumbed to the pressure of President Obama and the Democrat leadership. 

However, until just a few hours before the vote, it appeared that the core group was intact and would either achieve pro-life protections or stand firm and reject the bill resulting in its defeat.  Tragically, neither occurred. At the last hour, this group accepted a deal from President Obama to support the bill in exchange for his signature on an Executive Order discussing federal funding of abortion.

There are numerous problems with this agreement.  The first, and most obvious, is that an Executive Order does not carry the full force of statutory law.  It is subject to the whims of the president and the executive branch.  President Obama or any President after him can do away with this Executive Order with the stroke of a pen.  No act of Congress is needed.  It could be gone next week.

To make matters worse, this Executive Order does not effectively stop federal funding of abortion even while it is in force.  It continues to rely on the accounting scheme that is in the Senate bill, where federal funds do indeed subsidize plans that cover abortion, with the only safeguard being that those funds are kept in a separate account before being paid out to abortionists.  And the government official responsible for administering this scheme is the staunchly pro-abortion Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. 

To be clear, the bill now being signed into law by the President does not contain adequate protections to ensure that federal funds do not go to abortions.

So where do we go from here?  The Senate is now likely to consider some of the changes that the House passed using the reconciliation process.  Regardless of whether or not the Senate approves those changes, the Senate bill will be in law as soon as the President signs it. 

We, however, are heading for court.  We will be challenging the constitutionality of this bill, and we will need your help. 

Please stay tuned to hear how you can join this fight.  This vote was not the end.  It merely pointed us to our next task.