Operation Rescue is giving Americans a chance to take a personalized stand against tax dollars for abortion in national healthcare reform.
The pro-life group's effort is designed to give people a chance to photograph themselves holding a handwritten sign saying "I Am 71." Troy Newman, who heads Operation Rescue, explains the significance of the number 71. "That is 71 percent of the American people disagree with paying for abortions with taxpayer dollars," says Newman. "So we're part of a tidal wave of American sentiment that believes that the Obama healthcare plans should never, ever include taxpayer-funded abortions." Newman says in the first few days, more than 100 photos were submitted. "And I've got several hundred more e-mails in my box that I've got to post," he adds. "So as long as [President] Obama wants to pay for abortion with taxpayer dollars, we're going to have a hew and outcry on the Internet telling him we are the 71 percent of the people who say absolutely not." The campaign will continue until abortion funding is removed from healthcare reform. Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee has rejected pro-life amendments to its version of healthcare reform. Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee explains what that means. "What this basically guarantees is that when the full Senate takes up healthcare legislation, the bill that they start with is going to have in it pro-abortion provisions -- including government subsidies for abortion insurance and other provisions that would expand abortion in this country," he laments. (Listen to audio report) The bill also stands firm in terms of "conscience" penalties -- in other words, healthcare workers who refuse, on the basis of religious beliefs, to perform certain procedures such as abortion could be penalized. Johnson notes the different messages coming from Capitol Hill on the matter. "Despite the soft rhetoric that some Americans have heard coming from President Obama, the actual substantive actions that are being taken by the Democrats on Capitol Hill -- with the backing of the White House -- are very much in the pro-abortion direction," he states. Johnson says the key to defeating the current bills is for the public to contact their elected representatives in the Senate and House en masse.
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