Bart Stupak (D-MI) was becoming a hero to pro-lifers all around the nation with his steadfast refusal to bend under the pressure of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House.
Instead, Stupak has become a hero to the other side — an hour ago, he announced his decision to vote FOR the Senate version of the health care bill.
Why? Stupak believes he can vote “yes” because of an Executive Order to be issued by the president providing “safeguards” against abortion funding.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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“This is the principle we have fought for all these months — I am now comfortable voting for the bill,” Stupak just told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News.
Stupak is defending his decision in spite of the fact than an executive order can be rescinded at any time, does not have the force of law, and has authority only over those in Congress but none over those implementing the bill in the private sector.
In other words, the promise of an executive order, especially one from a president who once supported infanticide, is very shaky ground upon which to claim a victory of “principle,” as Stupak has done.
Stupak’s decision betrays Catholics.
As I said in my press release for Catholic Advocate, “Today’s vote will go down in history as one of the greatest expansions of abortion since Roe v. Wade.”