This platform on which GOP candidates are expected to run will probably be passed with no problem. The Republican Party no longer is appeasing the religious hard right and social conservatives who would outlaw abortion with no exemptions for rape or incest, those people are today's Republican Party where social issues are the #1 priority. It is like seeing Oklahoma politics go nationwide.
Once again Republicans do not want Federal employees to have the coverage for abortion regardless of the circumstance including life of the mother since the Federal Government pays a part of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program:
The party will also reaffirm its opposition to federally-funded stem cell research and demand that the government "should not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage."Here is more about the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan that Government employees pay a huge chunk of the premium -- we pay over $400 a month for a family plan:
For nearly 30 years, anti-choice lawmakers have used the Financial Services and General
Government Appropriations bill (or its predecessor appropriations legislation), which provides
funding for the FEHB program, as an opportunity to deny access to abortion coverage to federal employees:
- From 1983 to 1993, anti-choice lawmakers annually banned federal employees from choosing a health-care plan that covered abortion.
- In 1993 and 1994, Congress reversed course and allowed federal employees to choose among health-care plans that covered abortion.3 In 1994, 178 FEHB plans out of 345 offered abortion coverage.4
- In 1995, a new anti-choice majority in Congress reinstated the ban.5 It has been continued annually since.
Federal employees contribute their own private dollars to pay their premium costs, as do
most American workers who receive health insurance through their employers.
Government workers deserve the same benefits and access to comprehensive health care as
those in the private sector enjoy. (Most private health-insurance plans currently include
abortion coverage.) Federal employees, who commit their lives to public service, should
not be discriminated against because of their source of health insurance. Leaving women
without coverage for safe, common, and sometimes critical care denies them the
comprehensive coverage they need and exposes them to unanticipated additional costs.
Take a look and see what these pro-lifers elected to Congress have done to Federal Employees and ask yourself if you want that done to all women in America. My answer is no! The very fact that women who work for the Federal Government do not have healthcare coverage for an abortion for incest, rape, or life of the mother tells me all I need to know about today's Romney Republican Party which I was too blind to see before it was thrown right in my face. President Bush believed in the exceptions and so did Senator McCain as a candidate in 2008 but was overruled by the hard right.
This platform looks to reflect the platforms that no one except the hard right run on in Oklahoma. Last time I was at a GOP Convention several years ago, the platform stated that the Bible would be taught in public schools. When I told someone it is a slippery slope because other religions would have the right to have their religious documents also taught, I was told to my face ONLY the Christian Bible will be taught. Being a smart aleck, I asked about the Catholic Bible which I knew was different with extra books and was told ONLY the Christian Bible. I would assume the Mormon Bible would also be left out in the cold. Guess that person didn't consider Catholics Christian either, but then I sat in a conservative Lutheran Church as a guest and heard the pastor call the Pope the anti-Christ. What can you say about churches who have gone hard right that common sense and empathy for others is thrown out the door.
Taken together it gives you an insight into today's religious right and how far right they have taken the Republican Party with their alliances with the Tea Party, social conservatives, militia, John Birchers Republicans Assemblies, anti-illegal and other groups most paid no attention to the fact they were gradually taking over the Republican Party. I thought it was just places like Oklahoma and Kansas not nationwide but I was wrong.
John McCain refused to stand up to this group because he wanted their votes. Rick Perry in the primary changed from being pro-life with exceptions to embracing no exceptions for rape or incest to run in the Republican Primary -- no wonder he had trouble because he didn't stand on principle. How many common sense Republicans have given up on what they truly believe to pander to the hard right of the GOP?
Yesterday we had Romney who had told Huckabee earlier in the campaign he would sign the "personhood" bill if it crossed his desk, say that he now supported abortion for rape victims after Akin's comments. Talk about pandering -- he saw the fire storm and threw not only Akin under the bus but Paul Ryan's adamant objection to abortion for rape victims. Romney has been all over the place on pro-life issues from pro-choice to no exceptions and now an exception for rape so who knows what he really thinks.
Ryan was a co-sponsor on the horrendous House Bill #3 when the Republicans took over the House to right the economy but out of the gate, HR 3 with 227 co-sponsors was about anti-abortion not the economy. Ryan touts himself as the biggest pro-lifer in the House. That should have given the American people a wake-up call that this House cared more about social issues and repealing the Affordable Healthcare Act (AHA) then fixing the economy.
After 33 votes to repeal and replace AHA and $50M dollars wasted, they are still talking about repealing AHA with no replacement so their Repeal and Replace is not true like most else that has come out of this Republican dominated House. To make abortion restrictions the 3rd bill of the new House should have told voters all they needed to know -- we sent a bunch of far right wingers to Congress to obstruct bills that would help the economy, help Americans, and in turn help Obama get re-elected.
Along with their obstructionist agenda starting in January 2011, the Republican House concentrated on social issues, vouchers for medicare, drastic cuts to programs that provide a security net, but they wanted an increase defense spending just like the Far Right Tea Party demanded. The very thought that this atrocious bill had 227 co-sponsors makes me want to throw out all 227 co-sponsors and get people in Congress who actually care about the economy and making things better for all Americans just not the far right who most of these Republicans answer to now.
Some of the more extreme ramifications of the bill, which have attracted a great deal of negative media attention since its introduction in January, include a provision that could subject victims of rape and incest to abortion audits by the IRS. Mother Jones reported in March that H.R. 3 could turn IRS agents into "abortion cops" tasked with determining whether a woman used any kind of tax benefit to pay for a procedure not precipitated by rape or incest.
Marcus Owens, a former longtime IRS official, told Mother Jones that if a woman received a tax credit for medical costs related to abortion, "on audit [she] would have to demonstrate or prove, ideally by contemporaneous written documentation, that it was incest, or rape, or [her] life was in danger. It would be fairly intrusive for the woman."
H.R. 3 has achieved further notoriety through its attempt to narrow the definition of "rape" as it relates to abortion. Lawmakers pulled language from the original measure that allowed federal funding for abortions only in the case of "forcible rape" after drawing widespread public criticism, but Mother Jones reported on Tuesday that House Republicans are using a backdoor legislative maneuver to ensure the bill achieves the same effect.
The bill's sponsors, co-sponsors and supporters have remained mum on H.R. 3's more controversial aspects. When asked about the abortion audits and "forcible rape" exception, Boehner spokesperson Michael Steel said only, “The American people overwhelmingly oppose using their tax dollars to pay for abortions," and referred any questions about details to Chris Smith's office.
In the first months of the Republicans in control of the House, they used a backdoor legislative maneuver on HR 3 to get what they wanted. Exactly why they went after Democrats and used to take over the House. In reality, they are no better than the far left liberal Democrats of Pelosi who were in charge for four years. They were elected on their claims of transparency which turned out to be a lie in the first month of session. Yet they want our donations and our votes. I will never vote or support anyone who was a co-sponsor of HR 3 -- you can take that to the bank.
When did the Republican Party decide that only social issues were important? Looks like a lot of us who vote in the Republican primary have been abdicating our obligation to look at where the candidate really stand on issues and if they pander to the far right. We lost our voices to stand up and be counted and, in turn, are losing the party many of us have been in for years. We have let the far right take over by being complacent and in some places have given into bullies with their threats.
With Romney it is hard to figure out where he stands on issues as he flip flops and lies which means he should never have had the nomination. Believe he wouldn't have been the nominee if we had an honest Republican National Committee and Chairman who kept changing the rules. Now Paul Ryan is also lying about his stance on abortion which means his core values are worthless when he sells out to be VP.
Have a horrible feeling when we get a look at the Republican Party Platform led by the Far Right Governor of Virginia McDonnell, a lot of us are not going to like what we see when you see the headline that it is a tough anti-abortion platform.
Look for the gender gap on women to favor Obama even more as there are a lot of Republican women who do not believe in the Far Right's stance on abortion and their telling all women what to do from abortion to contraceptives to women's health. Guess the hard right want to bring back the days of the back alley abortions and also make it a crime if you get an abortion. Do they also want to throw women in jail if they get an abortion?
GOP prepares tough anti-abortion platform
Draft language of platform obtained by CNN
UPDATED 5:21 AM CDT Aug 21, 2012
The Republican Party is set to once again enshrine into its official platform support for "a human life amendment" to the Constitution that would outlaw abortion without making explicit exemptions for rape or incest, according to draft language of the platform obtained exclusively by CNN late Monday.
"Faithful to the 'self-evident' truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed," the draft platform declares. "We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children."
The party will also reaffirm its opposition to federally-funded stem cell research and demand that the government "should not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage."
Republicans have also inserted a "salute" to states pushing "informed consent" laws -- an apparent reference to ultrasound bills that have moved through some state legislatures -- "mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion, and health-protective clinic regulation."
The platform draft is being closely guarded by party officials but was provided to CNN by a Republican source in Tampa.
The source cautioned that the document is still in draft form and must be approved by the full Platform Committee on Tuesday and by delegates to the Republican National Convention next week.
The GOP's abortion plank faces scrutiny every four years, and this year's document contains language similar to the platforms that were adopted by the party at their conventions in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
But the abortion issue has been thrust into the center of the presidential campaign as this year's convention approaches, thanks to comments from Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, a U.S. Senate candidate, about abortion and "legitimate rape."
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan sharply condemned Akin's remarks and pledged that under a Romney administration, abortion would be allowed in the case of rape.
An exemption for rape, though, is not included in the platform set to be adopted by the party Romney will officially lead when he accepts the Republican nomination next week.
And Ryan, his vice presidential pick, has opposed exceptions for rape and voted alongside Akin in the House, though Ryan now says he defers to Romney's position on the matter.
Debate over the abortion plank flared four years ago when John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee at the time, said he wanted to add language to the platform to recognize exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
That prompted angry finger-wagging from top social conservatives.
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, chided McCain and said it would be "political suicide" for him to add language about exceptions for rape or incest in the abortion platform.
Read more: http://www.koco.com/news/politics/GOP-prepares-tough-anti-abortion-platform/-/9843896/16204478/-/14fb0ti/-/index.html#ixzz24BvWtRxC
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