Conscience Claws

by digby

I don’t like Indiana’s Brad Ellsworth much, but at least he’s not willing to lie about the Nelson Amendment. Greg Sargent reports that he’s voting for the HCR bill and said this:

Ellsworth’s office sends over his statement. The key nugget on abortion:

“As a pro-life Hoosier, one of my central concerns has been preventing federal funding of elective abortion. Throughout my brief time in Congress, I have held firm to my pro-life principles, even when it meant going against my party, and I am proud of my 100% pro-life voting record on abortion-related issues. I have spent time listening carefully to constituents, pro-life leaders, policy experts and reading all the details of every bill.

“After assurance from the Catholic Health Association, Catholic Nuns and pro-life advocates I am confident in my heart that this bill meets my pro-life principles and upholds the policy of no federal funding for elective abortions. More than that, it invests $250 million in support services for women facing unplanned pregnancies and over a billion dollars to help families afford adoption services. These investments will reduce the number of abortions in America.

Any “pro-life” Democrat with the tiniest bit of belief in social justice should be able to see that this bill does not make anyone pay for abortions. In fact, it makes women go through hoops to pay for their own abortion coverage with their own money and will lead inevitably to less access over time.

These statements are not much help for the pro-choice advocates who had to vote against their own interests to gain subsidies and government coverage for more poor people, but at least it doesn’t mean they did that for nothing. If some ardent “pro-life” Democrats are willing to admit that the bill doesn’t say the opposite of what Stupak and the Bishops say it says, perhaps we can start to crawl out of this rabbit hole now.