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Repeal of pro-abort health care law is Republicans’ first order of business

"Doctors now are profaning their profession, those who have given themselves over to destroying human life in abortions." - Jesus, June 6, 1987

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 3, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – House Republicans are gearing up to take down the pro-abortion health care law passed by Congress last March as their first order of business, and a vote to repeal the law could happen within a matter of weeks.

House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said the GOP would pursue a dual strategy of tackling the whole health care law or chopping away at critical sections of the Affordable Care Act – such as its provisions that allow for abortion funding.

Upton told the Fox News Sunday program that the GOP would be bringing a vote to repeal the entire law “before the president’s State of the Union address.”

“We have 242 Republicans,” he said, adding confidently that he believed “a significant number of Democrats” would also join the GOP in trying to undo President Barack Obama’s signature achievement, possibly even finding a veto-proof majority.

Upton said that after that vote, the GOP would attack three major pillars of the health law in order to cripple the legislation.

“We’ll look at these individual pieces to see if we can’t have the thing crumble,” he continued.

One method of attack, he explained, would be to implement a Pitts-Stupak style ban that would provide a government-wide ban on public funding for abortion in the health care scheme. That bill would likely come out of the E&C Health subcommittee chaired by pro-life Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.)

Another area of attack would be the individual mandate, a law that forces U.S. citizens to purchase health insurance from insurance providers or pay a fine – the mandate is considered essential to the regulatory scheme of the ACA. A third area would be repealing the 1099 tax scheme which requires all taxable entities (including individuals and small businesses) to send out 1099 tax forms to every company or individual having purchased at least $600 worth of goods and services within the tax year beginning on January 1, 2012.

Pro-life groups have argued that a government-wide statutory ban on funding for abortion is necessary, not only to prevent court-challenges to Obama’s executive order, but also because the president’s order is not comprehensive enough to make sure no money goes to insurance companies that subsidize abortion.

Back in July, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) exposed a serious weakness in the executive order obtained by pro-life Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan. NRLC discovered that Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services had approved applications for federal subsidies of high-risk pools from at least three states (New Mexico, Maryland, Pennsylvania) that included elective abortion as a covered benefit. The Obama order did not technically cover Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans (PCIPs), a $5 billion HHS stopgap program to help those with pre-existing medical conditions unable to afford health insurance, until the health care reform law takes full effect in 2014. This raised further questions about what else the executive order did not cover that requires constant vigilance on the part of pro-life advocates.

However, The Hill reports that Democrats are pledging to block any repeal from going forward in the U.S. Senate, where 60 votes are required under the Senate’s rules to begin debate.

“If House Republicans move forward with a repeal of the health care law that threatens consumer benefits like the ‘donut hole’ fix, we will block it in the Senate,” stated a letter signed by Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other top Democrats.

The new Congress will be sworn in Wednesday, January 5. It has been described by many pro-life advocates as the most pro-life congress in living memory.

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Unconstitutional: Virginia federal judge rules against Obamacare

RICHMOND, Virginia, December 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a section of the national health care law is unconstitutional, making it the first time a federal judge has ruled in favor of the law’s opponents.

(Read the ruling here.)

U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Richmond today declared that Congress had no authority under the U.S. Constitution to mandate individuals buy health insurance or pay a fine to the federal government. That provision is the linchpin of the national health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act. It requires that all healthy individuals pay into health insurance plans so that insurance companies can afford to provide health coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions and expensive health problems.

“Despite the laudable intentions of Congress in enacting a comprehensive and transformative health care regime, the legislative process must still operate within constitutional bounds,” Hudson ruled. “Salutatory goals and creative drafting have never been sufficient to offset an absence of enumerated powers.”

“At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance - or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage - it’s about an individual’s right to choose to participate,” Hudson wrote in his decision.

The ruling was a victory for Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general, who had challenged the law on the basis of a conflicting Virginia statute that prohibits individuals in the state from being forced to buy health insurance. Cuccinelli had also argued that the law violates the bounds of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Tenth Amendment.

Hudson agreed that Congress overstepping the bounds of the commerce clause by compelling people to buy a product (health insurance) could have major implications when the principle is applied to other areas.

“An enactment that exceeds the power of Congress to adopt adversely affects everyone in every application,” he said.

Hudson did not issue an injunction, but said that the “the award of declaratory judgment is sufficient to stay the hand of the executive branch pending appellate review.”

Hudson declared that part of the law (sec. 1501) dealing with the individual mandate unconstitutional, but declined to declare the whole law unconstitutional. Instead, Hudson chose to sever that part of the Affordable Care Act from the rest of the law.

“I am gratified we prevailed,” said Cuccinelli in a statement. “This won’t be the final round, as this will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, but today is a critical milestone in the protection of the Constitution.”

Incoming U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) called Hudson’s ruling a “clear affirmation” of the unconstitutional nature of the Affordable Care Act and he challenged President Obama to file a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“In this challenging environment, we must not burden our states, employers, and families with the costs and uncertainty created by this unconstitutional law, and we must take all steps to resolve this issue immediately,” Cantor said.

Family Research Council’s Special Legal Counsel Ken Klukowski said, however, that Hudson’s ruling only got it “half right.”

Klukowski said that he should have struck down the whole law, because the severed individual mandate “is essential to a complex law.”

“Striking down the mandate requires a court to strike down the entire statute and return the matter entirely to Congress,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Tom Price, Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, said in a statement that the GOP and willing allies would continue the fight for “patient-centered health care,” and undo the government-centered health care legislation. A fight to defund, repeal, and replace the Affordable Care Act is expected once the GOP takes over the House of Representatives in January.

“We should focus on the principles of access, affordability, quality, responsiveness, innovation, and patients’ choices without putting the federal government in charge,” he said.

So far two federal judges have upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate, while only one has struck it down.

However U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Pensacola is set to hear oral arguments on Thursday in the second major challenge to the ACA. That one is led by Florida AG Bill McCollum and is joined by 19 other attorneys general representing their respective states.

In all, there are just under two dozen legal challenges to the ACA making their way through federal courts.

Read Judge Hudson’s decision here.

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Health care must respect life from conception: Pope Benedict

LifeSiteNews.com reported on November 18, 2010:

In a letter to participants at the 25th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, Pope Benedict said that “the world of health may not evade the moral rules” and must avoid a consumerist “cult of the body.” The pope listed destruction of the human embryo and euthanasia as examples of a failure of justice and charity in health care.

Charity requires justice, the pope said, and “justice must be among the health agendas of governments and international institutions.”

“Unfortunately, alongside positive and encouraging results, there are opinions and ways of thinking that hurt. I am referring to issues such as those related to the so-called ‘reproductive health,’ with the use of artificial reproductive techniques that involve destruction of embryos, or legalized euthanasia.

“The love of justice, the protection of life from conception to natural death, respect for the dignity of every human being should be sustained and witnessed, even against the tide: the core ethical values are the common heritage of universal morality and the basis of democratic society,” said the pope.

He added: “We are witnessing, on the one hand, a care for health which risks turning into pharmacological, medical and surgical consumerism, almost a cult of the body while, on the other hand, we see the difficulties millions of people face as they seek to obtain minimal subsistence and the medicines they need to cure themselves.”

At the 2009 synod of African bishops at the Vatican, catholic health care agencies in the developing countries of Africa revealed that one of their biggest challenges was obtaining sufficient anti-retroviral drugs to treat AIDS victims already suffering from the disease. International aid organizations, the bishops said, were solely focused on prevention to the detriment of attempts to treat the ill.

“Care for the human being,” the pope said, is a core issue for the Christian community, “for his transcendent dignity and inalienable rights.”

Speaking of health care development in the third world, Pope Benedict said, “I would advocate the adoption of a model of development based on the centrality of the human person, on the promotion and sharing of the common good, on responsibility, on a realisation of our need for a changed lifestyle, and on prudence, the virtue which tells us what needs to be done today in view of what might happen tomorrow.”

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Health Care Bill Includes Monthly Abortion Premium: House Minority Leader Boehner

"For that one reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the Lord. They will fear Him and find measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn." - Our Lady of the Roses, April 14, 1984

LifeSiteNews.com reported on November 6, 2009:

According to House Republican Leader John Boehner, the government-run health care bill being considered in Congress would include "a monthly abortion premium ... [to] be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan."

On his blog Boehner states that this premium "will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services."

He continues: "Section 213 [of the bill] describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run plan. The Commissioner must charge at a minimum 1$ per enrollee per month."

His statement immediately gathered attention among those favoring the health care bill, who denied that Boehner's post accurately portrayed the situation.

According to Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee, however, "Boehner's post is perfectly accurate."

Johnson told David Brody of CBN News that "we call it the 'abortion surcharge.' It is just one more thing illustrating what we've been saying: The bill explicitly authorizes the big new federal government health insurance plan, the public option, to pay for all elective abortions."

Nevertheless, Johnson continued by saying that "even if the Democratic leadership struck out the 'abortion surcharge,' the same fundamental problem would remain: The 'public option' is a federal agency program, and when it pays for elective abortions, that is federal funding of abortion on demand -- no matter what convoluted cloaking devices the pro-abortion politicians invent to try to conceal what they are doing."

According to Boehner, such funding of abortion makes "Speaker Pelosi's 2,032-page health care monstrosity" an affront "to the American people."

In addition to speaking about the abortion premium, Boehner also states that the Health and Human Services Secretary "is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan."

The current Health and Human Services Secretary is Kathleen Sebelius, a pro-abortion "Catholic" who vetoed several pro-life bills during her time as Governor of Kansas. She is infamous for having invited the recently murdered late-term abortionist George Tiller and his staff to a party at the governor's mansion in 2007. Tiller had given significant quantities of money to Sebelius' campaign.

Boehner continues to write that, additionally, the "Speaker's plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions."

Boehner has previously made no secret of his opposition to the abortion-funding Democratic health-care bill. As he wrote on National Review Online in July, "If a health-care bill doesn't lower costs for middle-class families, but does require them to subsidize abortion-on-demand with their hard-earned tax dollars, one has to ask a fundamental question: For whom was this bill actually written?"

He continued: "Was it written for the millions of Americans who were promised a health-care bill that lowers costs? Or is it really for the radical special-interest and lobbying groups that invested millions to elect a cooperative president and Congress?"

NRLC's Douglas Johnson called the Ellsworth Amendment "a political fig leaf made out of cellophane."

USCCB Condemnation Tears Facade off "Phony" Abortion Compromise for Health Bill

LifeSiteNews.com reported on November 6, 2009:

A sound condemnation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has helped dash the chances that the latest purported "compromise" on abortion in the health care overhaul proposed by Democrats could be smuggled through as a legitimately pro-life option.

The amendment in question, proposed by Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth this week, purports to remove "federal funding for abortion" in H.R. 3962 by hiring contractors to issue checks for abortion - essentially putting one more procedural step between abortion and those who pay for them through the government plan.

The USCCB memo told congressional staff Thursday that U.S. bishops did not consider the amendment sufficient - that it does not, in fact, address any of the pro-life concerns in the health bill.

"On examination, it is not a meaningful compromise. It addresses none of the substantial criticisms offered by the Catholic bishops' conference and other pro-life advocates for health care reform," wrote Richard Doerflinger, secretariat of Pro-Life Activities at the USCCB, in the memo.

In a column discussing the U.S. bishops' attitude towards the health bill, Denver auxiliary bishop James Conley noted that the U.S. bishops' have diligently worked to establish true pro-life language to the bill; but, "as of November 5, all those efforts have failed." "'Common ground' thinking in Washington apparently has more reality as public relations than as public policy," wrote Conley.

The response by the USCCB may have a significant impact on pro-life lawmakers' resolve to block the abortion-expanding bill: Bloomberg reports that, according to Ellsworth, several pro-life representatives were waiting to hear the bishops' assessment before making up their mind about the language.

According to Rules Committee chairwoman Rep. Louise Slaughter, the "rule" or parameters for voting on the House bill will allow a vote on the Ellsworth amendment - but will not allow a vote on the Stupak/Pitts amendment, which would secure long-standing federal policy against abortion funding. A vote on the rule is expected Friday evening.

"[The Ellsworth amendment] serves no purpose except to assist Speaker Pelosi in peeling votes away from an amendment that would flatly prohibit the public plan from paying for elective abortions," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Johnson called the Ellsworth Amendment "a political fig leaf made out of cellophane."

"It directs the federal Secretary of Health to hire a contractor to deliver to abortion providers the payments for elective abortions, payments that are explicitly authorized by the bill [on page 110]," he said. "This is a money-laundering scheme -- a federally funded 'bag man' will deliver government funds to abortionists. This is federal funding of elective abortion."

Pro-life Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) called Ellsworth's proposal equivalent to the government "taking out a contract on the unborn."

Shortly before Ellsworth introduced his amendment, Smith had warned thousands of pro-lifers tuned into a Stop the Abortion Mandate webcast Monday to be on guard against phony compromises designed to strip support away from the critical Stupak/Pitts amendment.

(Click here for contact information for elected officials)

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Pro-Life Lawmakers Condemn 'Sham' Health Bill Abortion Compromise

11,000 on Abortion Mandate Webcast Warned against Phony Compromises in Healthcare Bill

"The Eternal Father command that you stop these murders at once! You will not destroy the lives of the unborn. Human life is sacred in the eyes of your God. No man has the right to destroy a life. The Father, He sends this life to you, and only He will decide when it will return back to the Kingdom.
"Do not, My children, be deceived by the words of the evil ones about you who cry to you of no space left for man. There is space, for My Father has a plan for every life He sends." - Our Lady of the Roses, August 5, 1971

THE UNITED STATES SHALL FALL
"How can a great country like the United States fall, you say, My child? You ask Me in your heart. I read your heart. I will tell you why. Because they have given themselves over to satan. When a country has lost its morality and seeks the pleasures of the flesh, giving over, themselves over, to all manner of abominations, like homosexuality, and condoning this up the highest courts of the land, then that country shall fall." - Our Lady of the Roses, November 1, 1985

DOCTORS
"Doctors now are profaning their profession, those who have given themselves over to destroying human life in abortions." - Jesus, June 6, 1987

FOULEST OF DEEDS
"Our hearts are torn because of the wanton murder of the young by evil man. Abortion, My children, is murder, the most foulest of deeds, that is punishable by death! And what is worse than death of the soul?
"I say unto you, as your Mother, that any man or woman who performs or takes part of this abomination of the murder of the unborn shall be given a heavy penance upon earth, or if this penance is not given upon earth, that person found guilty in the eyes of his God shall suffer eternal damnation in the fires of hell." - Our Lady, December 28, 1976

DESTROYED
"All who become part of or condone abortion, the murder of the young, shall be destroyed!" - Jesus, June 2, 1979

HUMAN LIFE IS SACRED
"The Eternal Father command that you stop these murders at once! You will not destroy the lives of the unborn. Human life is sacred in the eyes of your God. No man has the right to destroy a life. The Father, He sends this life to you, and only He will decide when it will return back to the Kingdom.
"Do not, My children, be deceived by the words of the evil ones about you who cry to you of no space left for man. There is space, for My Father has a plan for every life He sends." - Our Lady, August 5, 1971

WILL NEVER BE CONDONED
"You will remember, My children and My child, to guard the young. Your clergy have fallen into darkness. Abortion will never be condoned. But We must have others who fervently will go forward and bring out to the minds of those who have actually seduced the country and the children--bring them the knowledge of Heaven, hell and purgatory. Then they will not have free license to sin." - Our Lady, May 28, 1983

GOVERNMENT
"For that one reason among many, the United States will suffer unless there is placed into your government a group that fears the Lord if they cannot love the Lord. They will fear Him and find measures to stop the slaughter of the unborn." - Our Lady, April 14, 1984

NUNS
"That is what makes My heart ache, My child. That is one of the reasons Theresa is crying constantly when she looks into the convents and sees what is going on. Many now believe in abortion, the murders of the children; and many have committed this act upon themselves." - Jesus, October 1, 1988

SIXTY MILLION
"I say this for this reason: the Eternal Father is much disturbed at the numbers of abortions being committed throughout your country and the world. These numbers go upwards to fifty to sixty million in one year throughout the world." - Our Lady, June 18, 1986

TREATED AS GARBAGE
"O My child, My tears fall upon you all when I see all of the innocent little babies being slaughtered . . . cast into garbage pails like nothing but dirt and scum. They are living human beings! And all murderers shall get their just recompense." - Our Lady, March 18, 1983

HOLY SPIRIT
"At the time of conception, the Holy Spirit makes the child, and the breath of the Almighty gives it life." - Our Lady, June 18, 1991

LIMBO
"And what, My children, are We going to do with all the aborted babies? O My child, I know you feel as I do, for I can see the great distress on your face. What are We going to do, My child? Do you understand when they come to Us, they must go to Limbo? They are in Heaven, a happy place, but they cannot see God." - Our Lady, October 2, 1987

SORROWFULLY
"Sorrowfully, the penance that is to come upon the world for the murders of the unborn shall be a chastisement far greater in severity than man has ever witnessed in the past nor ever shall pass through again. Your world is plunging into a deep chasm of suffering and destruction." - Our Lady, May 20, 1978

OATH
"Your once loyal to the oath of a doctor, your once loyal doctors are now butchers! For money they kill the young!" - Our Lady, February 10, 1978

WOE TO THE WOMAN
"Know, My child, this simple lesson, that in these days of the latter times, women will seek to cast off their role as mother and a woman. Women will cast it off under the direction of satan, and murder her children. Woe to the woman who does not repent of this vile abomination! She has walked the road to eternal damnation and hell. Repent, O woman, or forever be lost!" - Our Lady, March 18, 1975

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