FROM ONE NEWS NOW

Activist: A 'deceiver' in the Oval Office
Charlie Butts and Jody Brown - OneNewsNow - 7/15/2010 5:00:00 AM
Forget Barack Obama's executive order to the contrary -- the federal government will finance abortions in Pennsylvania.

Prior to a U.S. House vote on healthcare reform this spring, President Obama signed an executive order barring use of federal funds to finance abortions. That move was roundly criticized by pro-life organizations as mere theatrics to placate -- and obtain the votes of -- supposedly "pro-life" Democrats in the House. (See related story)

Now comes word that $160 million in federal money will be used in Pennsylvania to finance a "high-risk insurance pool" plan that includes abortion -- and those funds reportedly are available immediately. Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania says she saw the writing on the wall when the order was signed.

"I am not surprised," she offers. "I knew that when President Obama signed that executive order to get the Democratic votes he needed [to get healthcare reform passed] that it was not worth the paper it was written on."

On March 24, 2010, she described the order as "words void of meaning placed on a blank piece of paper for a feel-good effect" -- a prediction she now says has proven "quite accurate."

While Pennsylvania is the first state to be notified of such funding, Gramley says plans in other states will also cover abortions with taxpayer money used to finance them -- unless they have opted out. "The way it's written, it will cover all abortions except sex selection," she explains. "So if you want to abort your baby because it's a boy and you wanted a girl, it would not help subsidize those abortions." But anything else can be covered, she adds.

Gramley says what is happening in Pennsylvania is proof that when pro-lifers said the presidential executive order was worthless, they were right. Any law passed by Congress carries more weight than a presidential executive order.

The true deceivers
Another pro-family group reacting to confirmation that taxpayer money will be funding abortions in Pennsylvania is Washington, DC-based Family Research Council Action. A spokesman for FRC Action says never before has the organization "so regretted being right on an issue." Tom McClusky says the president deceived the public. (Listen to audio report)

"For our efforts to remove the [healthcare reform] bill's abortion funding, we were called 'deceivers' by President Obama and 'liars' by his allies," McClusky states in a press release. "Now we know who the true deceivers and liars really are."

According to the FRC action senior vice president, Obama should apologize to the American people "for his deception" -- but that full satisfaction will only come when the Pennsylvania abortion funding is rescinded and the healthcare law is repealed.

McClusky says that even before being fully implemented, Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan is being exposed as "a high-taxing, poorly thought-out, and taxpayer-funding-of-abortion monstrosity."

As for the "pro-life" Democrats who voted for the healthcare reform bill based on the president's executive order? "I think people like Senator Ben Nelson and Representatives Bart Stupak and Kathy Dahlkemper, who lives in Pennsylvania, really need to pressure this administration to rescind this grant and explain how it happened in the first place," he suggests.

Stupak, who soon after voting for the healthcare reform measure announced he would not seek re-election this fall, has labeled this report from Pennsylvania as "recycled scare tactics" perpetrated by right-to-life groups that are "politicizing life issues" in their effort to undermine healthcare reform.

"In accordance with the executive order," Stupak says in a press statement, "the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has directed states that federal funds provided under healthcare reform may not be used to fund abortion. HHS has reiterated this policy in response to the current accusations from the National Right to Life Committee."

But like Gramley, McCluskey notes that the grant for abortions in Pennsylvania is only the first salvo, and he expects it will begin happening in other states as well. He goes on to say that several states have already filed suit against healthcare reform -- and he believes more will be filed over the pro-life aspects of the law.