Public Funding and Freedom of Conscience

Well, the pro-life movement has been banging on recently about how this new health care bill that is about to be voted on in the Senate tomorrow (merry Christmas, America) still contains a way for public funding to be used for abortions.

Despite polling data that shows heavy opposition to the health care bill in general and abortion funding in particular, Democrats are using their political power to politely ignore the opinions of us insects.

A lot of it just comes down to misinformation and a fundamentally flawed approach to all of this legislation. Virginia Senator Mark Warner wrote the following in an e-mail:

I have also been contacted by some Virginians about the vote last week on Amendment 2962. This amendment would have prohibited any health plan participating in the insurance exchange that covers an individual who receives a federal subsidy from covering abortion. I voted to table the amendment because the current health care bill already upholds federal law, which states that no federal funds may be used for abortion unless the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest, or where the life of the mother is in danger.

This kind of reasoning is a little offensive. It suggests that pro-lifers are suggesting amendments just to waste time, as if we haven't actually looked at the possible implications of current legislation.

Any amendment that clarifies existing law is fine by me, especially on a subject as serious as abortion, but apparently Senate Democrats are against this. By tabling that amendment, Democrats are once again choosing to appease the radical pro-abortion groups, rather than rigorously protect the consciences of the majority of Americans.

What frustrates me is that it's impossible to make it clear just what will happen with all $800 billion that will go into this health care bill. While Democrats argue that existing law forbids it to be used for abortion, pro-lifers bring a legitimate case against this.

Just because money isn't earmarked for abortion, doesn't mean it can't be used for abortion. This health care bill, as I understand it, will subsidize many different insurance plans. If some of those plans cover abortion, even if they're not "government-owned" plans, this still constitutes public funding of abortion.

That is, if the government is going to give handouts for people to buy whatever insurance plan they want from a range of options, and some of those options cover abortion, then this constitutes public funding for abortion. When it comes down to it, I, a tax-payer, will be forced to pay into a system that does things that violate my conscience.

This is why I find the conservative argument against big government spending to be generally pretty compelling. If you let other people spend your money for you, you'd better be given an accounting of what they do with it. But that just isn't possible when it comes to the government. Their fingers are just in too many pies.

Ugh, this whole thing just makes me sick. Someone has to bang on about it. If the government is really going to take my money and then potentially let it end up in the hands of an abortionist, then that brings up serious questions about paying taxes. I've never thought about civil disobedience before, but I do occasionally wonder how bad things will get.

Maybe I'll just start eating more Domino's Pizza.