Roundup: Will Nelson Steal Christmas From Everyone (Especially Women)?

Dec 18, 2009, 8:42am

Rachel Larris

While the public is waiting for Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson to decide if he is going to fall in with the Democrats' proposal for healthcare reform, Harry Reid has threatened to make everyone stay till Christmas to finish the bill.

While the public is waiting for Nebraska Senator Ben
Nelson to decide if he is going to fall in with the Democrats’ proposal for
healthcare reform, Harry Reid has threatened to make
everyone stay till Christmas to finish the bill.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
shared in the outrage. "They want to run it through before
Christmas!" he marveled.

McCain was getting more worked up.
"We will see jammed-through-on-Christmas Eve legislation that will have
the most far-reaching effects and devastating effects," he judged.

Left out of this protest was any
acknowledgment of why the Democrats were ramming and rushing and jamming the
bill through on a holiday: Republicans had made it impossible to do anything
earlier. On Wednesday, the entire chamber came to a standstill for three hours
while Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) forced the clerks to read aloud legislative
gobbledygook about "subparagraph (D)(ii)" and "section
1861(ff)(2)(E)" and "standards described in section 1902(a)(31)(A) of
such act (as so in effect)."

As of Thursday
Sen. Nelson still
wasn’t happy with any proposed compromises on the issue of abortion
coverage in the final bill.

Nelson said the
Democratic leadership has "added some important things," including
more funding to combat teen-age pregnancy and an increased tax credit for
low-income families to adopt children. He says there has been a "lot of
improvement on the legislation, but the basic question on the funding of
abortion has not been fully answered yet."

However abortion isn’t the only issue that Nelson is
holding
out for either.

"The Nebraska
centrist on Wednesday outlined concerns with a disability insurance program
that the bill would create, cuts in Medicare payments to home health care
providers and nursing homes, and unspecified tax increases. In addition, he
expressed concerns that the bill would underpay some Medicare providers while
not doing enough to contain long-term health care costs."

Meanwhile Newsweek’s
Sarah Kliff reminds
everyone that legislative "compromise" proposals about abortion rarely
pass.

This year, Congress considered three "compromise" bills
dealing with abortion issues: Casey’s Pregnant Women
Support Act, the Prevention First Act
and the Reducing
the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act. They had an awful lot in
common: all aimed to reduce the number of abortions in the United States. Their
sponsors often talked about things like "common ground" and "compromise." All
three of these bills had been introduced repeatedly in previous sessions of
Congress. And none has ever come out of committee.

In Other News

Pro-choice advocates are going to court today to
challenge an Oklahoman law that, if upheld, would post
private information about women seeking abortions on the internet.

The
survey in Oklahoma’s new abortion law includes some of the following questions:
Would having a baby dramatically change a woman’s life, or interfere with her
job or education? Is she unemployed, or unsure of a relationship with the
father?

Bonus item: The rate of foreign
adoptions by Americans fell
this year.

December 18, 2009

Health-care
vote hinges on abortion
plan Boston
Herald

Women
caught in middle of fight over abortion in health bill Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Online
posting of women’s abortion information challenged in Oklahoma CNN

McCaskill
misreads abortion
coverage News-Leader.com

Charges
dropped in attack over abortion case Allentown Morning Call

Web
letter: Amendment won’t stop abortions
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

The
politics of mayhem, mischief, and murder RenewAmerica

Pro-Life
News: Virginia Infanticide, Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Australia … LifeNews.com

Include
reproductive medicine Press & Sun-Bulletin

Teens,
contraception and
unplanned pregnancy The
Sikh Times, UK