Bart Stupak, Democratic representative from Michigan, stated in an interview last week that Democratic leadership in the House has blocked all amendments to spending bills that would ban federal funding for abortion. “We are not even allowed to offer the amendment on the floor. And there are members who are not pro-life, who are pro-choice, but who think it is wrong of leadership to deny me and others the opportunity to express our judgment on this issue,” Stupak said in the CBS News interview. Stupak, a member of the Blue …
The Alliance Defense Fund announced today that a lawsuit had been filed in federal court on behalf of a Catholic nurse who says her employer, Mount Sinai Hospital, forced her to assist in performing a late-term abortion in spite of her strongly held religious beliefs against abortion. The suit alleges the nurse had repeatedly made her faith-based objections to assisting abortions clearly known to hospital administrators from the time she was hired, even signing a written statement stating her objection. It also states the hospital had a clear written policy …
Controversial Princeton bioethics professor and philosopher Peter Singer is making waves with his article outlining the case for rationing in last week’s New York Times Magazine. This is the same Singer who advocated infanticide, proposing that abortion be made legal for 28 days after birth, in order to allow parents to decide whether to keep an “imperfect” baby. Professor Singer’s latest piece, “Why We Must Ration Health Care,” should be a call to action for every American who cherishes personal freedom and self-determination. There is no doubt that health care …
Much of the controversy in President Obama and congressional Democrats’ health care overhaul thus far has focused on the public option and concerns with the budget-busting price tag. But as negotiations in Congress on hundreds of pages of complex legislative text continue to move at break-neck pace, all leading up to floor consideration scheduled in the next few weeks, the issue of taxpayer funding for abortion is threatening to take center stage. Just before Congress broke for the 4th of July recess, nineteen Democrat members of the House sent a …
On Tuesday, former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt debated former Senator (and former Obama nominee for the top HHS post) Tom Daschle on health care reform at The National Press Club (articles summarizing the event here and here, video of portions of the event here , and an interesting blog post here). The pair began by touching on areas of agreement in health care reform. They agreed that all Americans should have access to affordable health insurance, and that the current trend of rapid cost increases in health care is unsustainable. …
Today, the national media are lauding President Obama for seeking “common ground” on the abortion issue during his commencement speech yesterday at the University of Notre Dame. In an article entitled “Obama a Champion at Notre Dame,” Washington Post columnist Eboo Patel called the speech a “near perfect demonstration of public leadership in an environment of polarization.” If public leadership means saying what your audience wants to hear while pursuing your own hard-line agenda with gusto, then the author is right on target. The trouble is, the President’s words of …
America is facing a shortage of qualified health care professionals, including doctors and nurses. The Health Services and Resources Administration (HRSA) has identified over 6,000 Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas across the country, with 64 million Americans living in them. According to HRSA, it would take over 16,000 new primary care doctors in these shortage areas to meet the need. The problem is even more acute in crucial specialties such as obstetrics and gynecology. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that almost one third of women in …
On March 9, 2009, the Obama Administration proposed to rescind a Bush Administration regulation protecting the conscience rights of health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, and medical students. This regulation implemented longstanding federal conscience protection laws, some of which have been on the books since the 1970s. These laws prohibit discrimination against health care providers who object to participating in abortion, sterilization, or other controversial medical procedures. Although federal conscience protections have been in place for years, very few health care providers are aware of their rights under these …
