from FaithWorld:
Stupak now target of all sides in abortion debate
Up until a few days ago Bart Stupak, an unassuming Democratic congressman from Michigan, was a hero among American activists opposed to abortion rights (who refer to themselves as "pro-life"). This was because Stupak had managed to insert strong language in the House of Representatives version of the healthcare bill aimed at preventing any federal tax funds from being used for abortion.
What a difference a weekend makes. President Barack Obama clinched the votes he needed to win passage for his healthcare overhaul on Sunday by winning over a handful of Democratic abortion rights opponents, led by Stupak, with the pledge of an executive order affirming restrictions on the use of federal funds for the procedure.
Stupak was suddenly a traitor to the cause, with barbs like "Judas" thrown his way on the blogosphere. Randy Neugebauer, a Republican congressman from Texas, reportedly yelled "Baby killer!," while Stupak explained why he was finally going to support the bill. Neugebauer was later quoted as saying he was referring to the bill and not Stupak himself, but that is the kind of emotional language one often hears in the shouting matches on this issue.
The Susan B. Anthony List, a conservative group that works to get female opponents of abortion rights elected, said it no longer planned to give Stupak its annual "Defender of Life" Award on Wednesday.
"This Wednesday night is our third annual Campaign for Life Gala, where we were planning to honor Congressman Stupak for his efforts to keep abortion-funding out of health care reform. We will no longer be doing so. By accepting this deal from the most pro-abortion President in American history, Stupak has not only failed to stand strong for unborn children, but also for his constituents and pro-life voters across the country," its president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
The Family Research Council, an influential evangelical political lobby group, also has Stupak and other anti-abortion Democrats who supported the healthcare bill in its sights.
Congresswoman who lost election takes job to unseat others
Republican Marilyn Musgrave, who was defeated in last year’s election for a Colorado seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, has found a new job — director of a project to unseat other members of Congress.
Musgrave, who lost the congressional seat she had first won in 2002 to Democrat Betsy Markey after a close and bitter campaign marked by negative attack ads, will head up a project of the anti-abortion group, the Susan B. Anthony List, to target congressional seats in the next election cycle.
“With this new program we are going to go into districts where people are likely to be vulnerable, and we are going to give those families a clear message as to how these congressmen and women are voting,” Musgrave said to reporters.
“We are going to say very clearly that these votes do have consequences as we use every form of media to defeat these people who are pro-abortion,” she said.
President Barack Obama angered abortion opponents by lifting some restrictions on the use of federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. A contentious issue during the debate over a $410 billion spending bill, signed into law by Obama this week, was money included for a U.N. family planning agency that Republicans were concerned could fund organizations that supported abortion.
Officials with the Susan B. Anthony List, a political action committee with the goal of helping “pro-life” women candidates get elected to Congress, could not say which elected officials the new project intended to target or how much money would be spent to do it. But they expressed concern over policies of Obama and the Democratically-led Congress.
“As we look at this new administration, his appointments are appalling in regard to the life issue,” Musgrave said.
