Did the Bishops Make a Mistake Opposing Affordable Healthcare?

/ Kristen Day

When Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2009, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ultimately opposed final passage.  The bishops’ decision to oppose the very lifesaving legislation that they had advocated for several decades provided coverage and legitimacy for Republicans to target the pro-life Democrats.  The results of the 2010 midterm elections were devastating.

One of the key players at the USCCB, Richard Doerflinger, the associate director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, recently announced his retirement after 36 years with the Conference.  In an article in the National Catholic Register, Doerflinger noted one regret over his tenure: the decision by pro-life advocates to target pro-life Democrats.  We acknowledge Doerflinger’s admission of this mistake, and we hope and trust that pro-lifers will work together in the future—including with pro-life Democrats—to meet the mounting challenges in our nation from the increasingly aggressive efforts to promote abortion.

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The Plight of the Democratic Party

/ DFLA

by Matt Tuman

Today’s front-page article of the Washington Post discussed the enormous electoral losses Democrats have taken since President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009. Since then, Democrats have lost 13 Senate seats, 69 House Seats, 913 state legislative seats, 11 governorships and 32 state legislative chambers.

The natural question that follows is, “How did this happen?”

Pro-life Democrats have been alienated from the Democratic Party. The 2012 Democratic platform stated the party “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade” and “opposes any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.” With this uncompromising stance, the party excludes over one third of all Democrats. In a CNN/ORC poll released last year, 36 percent of Democrats said that abortion should be illegal before the fetus is viable. The Democratic Party cannot thrive when it ostracizes such a large part of its membership.

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“Women’s Health Protection Act” – HB 16-1203

/ DFLA

A White Paper from the Protect Life Coalition

** Basis for the testimony of Tom Perille, MD, before the Colorado House Health, Insurance and Environment Committee on April 7, 2016

Introduction

The Women’s Health Protection Act is an attempt to ensure that women who choose abortion are not victimized by those who would profit from the procedure.  For pro-choice activists who for decades have railed against the prospect of unsafe/back-alley abortions, ensuring safe, sanitary conditions for this surgical procedure should be a no-brainer.  Pro-life activists, who abhor abortion for its effects on the woman as well as the developing human, gain no solace from the maiming and mutilation of young women during a legal abortion procedure.   Everyone in Colorado, regardless of their position on abortion, should endorse sound abortion clinic regulations, commensurate with the risk attributable to abortion.

The State of Colorado through the Department of Health and the Environment, Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division, have promulgated rules concerning a wide variety of health care facilities to ensure public safety.  They currently license hospitals, long term care facilities, acute treatment units, assisted living residencies, community clinics, rehabilitation centers, convalescent centers, chiropractic centers, birth centers, maternity hospitals, dialysis centers, psychiatric hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, hospices and home care agencies.1  Abortion is the most common out-patient surgical procedure in the state and abortion clinics deserve to be included in this list of health care facilities with specific state oversight and supervision. Continue reading →

President Hillary Hides the Faults of the Democratic Party

/ DFLA

Friday, January 20, 2017 is a cold day in Washington, DC.  The scene outside the Capitol building is familiar to many political aficionados, although the cast of characters is somewhat different.  It is now Hillary instead of Bill raising her hand to take the oath of office, and the faces around her are more diverse than before.  After thumping Republican nominee Donald Trump (yes, that actually happened), the Democratic Party is full of optimism.  After electing the first African-American president and reelecting him four years later, the presidency can now no longer exclusively use the pronoun “he”.  Democrats are the party of diversity and progress, as astounding numbers of Hispanics and African-Americans carry Hillary to the White House.

On this date, it is easy to fall into the Democratic talking points of an ascendant party, one that will control at least two branches of the government in the near future with maybe the Congress within reach.  However, if this future occurs, it will be a house built on sand, to borrow a biblical phrase.

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Unexpected Support

/ DFLA

John Wesley Leek

The Mississippi Democratic Party platform in 2012 left little room for pro-life Democrats stating among other things that the party “strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade” and that “we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine (abortion rights).”

I went to my county convention Saturday March 12th with proposed platform language adapted from statements provided by Democrats for Life of America.

I felt suddenly nervous as I stood to speak. I hadn’t met many of the people there before and had heard many times that most Democrats identify as pro-choice. Here is what I read: Continue reading →

It’s Progressive to be Pro-Life

/ DFLA

By Celia Wolf-Devine

***Originally Published by Providence Journal

You want to be on the side of the angels.  You are concerned about the growing gap between rich and poor, cut backs in services provided for the most vulnerable members of our society, environmental degradation, loss of jobs through downsizing and corporations moving to other countries where labor is cheaper, harsh immigration policies, racial prejudice, expensive wars overseas, erosion of democracy, threats to civil liberties, and attempts on the part of right wingers to curtail women’s right to abortion.  WAIT A MINUTE!

“Abortion rights” simply do not belong on this list of “good guy” causes.  I’ll sign on for all the other things on the list; I believe that makes me a progressive.  But the dirty little secret here is that abortion is being used to keep down the numbers of the poor, especially people of color.  It is cheaper than doing something to help them.  Black women are more than three times as likely to undergo abortions as white women.  Abortion clinics are located in poor neighborhoods and abortion encouraged among people of color.  Under a mask of compassion lurks the ruthless destruction in the womb of those who would be born poor and perhaps make some demands upon us and threaten our comfortable position.

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Pro-Choice Extremism Is Holding the Democratic Party Back

/ DFLA

By Robert Hay

In the past month, two high-profile incidents have shown how powerful a hold the pro-choice movement has on the Democratic Party, and its hope to “expand the playing field” and win more elective victories is imperiled as a result.

The first incident involved DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an unabashed pro-choice politician and one of the architects of the “war on women” campaign strategy.  In a Q&A with The New York Times, the Chair when asked about abortion rights said, “Here’s what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided.”  The quote could have been a moment to examine within the Democratic Party its unwavering opposition to any abortion opposition, or at least a soul-searching about whether she was right, and the reason record numbers of abortion restrictions were being passed was because younger Americans didn’t know what life was like without unrestricted abortion.

Instead, the pro-choice machine went into full court press, going to the media declaring that Wasserman Schultz was wrong and that the younger generation was the most passionate and most open in their caring about this issue.  This despite the fact polls show the Millennial generation just as divided about abortion as previous ones.  Wasserman Schultz, faced with pressure, immediately back tracked from her comments and the party lost a chance to think deeply about itself and abortion.

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