It's in the LP national platform that we wouldn't use taxpayer funds for abortion. So, as far as this topic is concerned, we're on the same side (in theory).
My [stock, any more] response:
Absent Allies
One of the pro-life movement's biggest frustrations has always been that the people who should be our biggest allies, the Republican Party and the church, have shown neither the character nor the courage to join the fight.
I include the church and politicians in the same section because I think they have entered into a kind of unholy alliance with each other. It's not that they all sat down in a room and cooked up some giant conspiracy, it's more like a conspiracy that naturally evolved from a common agenda.
It works something like this. First, the nation's politicians tell us to go away, claiming that abortion is a religious issue and not the sort of thing in which politicians should become involved. Then, the church tells us to go away becauuse abortion is a political issue and not something in which the church should become involved.
Of course, both know that this argument is complete rubbish, but the rhetoric surrounding it makes them feel more at ease with their cowardice, plus it gives them an excuse to throw us out of their offices.
It now appears that these guys intend to work this scam until we either give up or drop dead. That may sound farfetched, but I guarantee you that if the pro-life movement called a press conference to announce that it was going to surrender and disband, the three happiest institutions in America would be the abortion industry, the Republican Party, and the church.
In the case of the Republican Party, the first thing we need to understand is that it is totally unsuited for the abortion battle. Since the day this struggle began, it has always been clear that it is the political equivalent of a brawl in a waterfront bar. Unfortunately, the Republican Party is made up of a bunch of guys whose mammas dressed them for college. They might go into a waterfront bar, but when the first punch is thrown, the only thing you can be certain of is that you're about to hear the unmistakable pitter-patter of fine leather wingtips stampeding toward the door.
On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of fight that the Democratic Party relishes. Since the sixties, it has devolved into a political sanctuary for every kind of moral degenerate and social misfit known to man. In a political bar fight, they are totally amoral people who will lie, cheat, steal, or wallow in the filthiest cesspool, if that's what it takes to win. And they absolutely scare the Republicans to death.
A second problem with the GOP is that the gated-community, limousine liberals who control it are about as interested in abortion as a fish is in a bicycle. These people are motivated by money, and there is simply no money in saving babies.
The next time someone says to you that the right to life is a "core value" with the Republican Party, ask them if that's the same Republican Party which routinely
(a) backs pro-abortion candidates against pro-life candidates in the primaries,
(b) uses contributions from pro-lifers to help elect pro-abortion Republicans over pro-life Democrats,
(c) supports pro-abortion organizations like Republicans for Choice,
(d) awards influential party leadership positions to hard-core pro-aborts,
(e) votes to confirm pro-abortion judges to the federal bench,
(f) runs candidates for president who won't commit to name only pro-lifers to the Supreme Court, and
(g) appropriates taxpayer dollars to fund openly pro-abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood.
Anyone who thinks those are the actions of a political party which sees the right to life as a "core value" is about two french fries short of a Happy Meal."
Vitter amendment to curb Title X a step in the right direction [But it has been blocked by Regula]
"The federal Title X population control program should be eliminated completely," said Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International, a division of American Life League. "Although the Vitter Amendment will not do that, it will stop Planned Parenthood from getting about $66 million of taxpayers' money. That's a big step in the right direction."
Rep. David Vitter (R-La.) is expected to offer an amendment which states, "None of the funds appropriated in this Act may be used to make any award of a grant or contract under Title X (ten) of the Public Health Service Act for fiscal year 2002 or any subsequent fiscal year to any private grantee, delegate, or clinic that provides a chemical or surgical abortion." Current appropriations for Title X are $253.9 million.
"The Vitter Amendment has been called a domestic version of the Mexico City Policy," said Szymkowiak. "That policy prevents taxpayer funding of abortion providers overseas. We should at least have a similar policy in the United States as well."
Release issued: 5 Oct 01