Thursday July 15, 2010
Catholic Pelosi to Receive Planned Parenthood Award for Stopping Stupak Abortion Funding Ban
By John Jalsevac
July 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a self-professed devout Catholic, will receive an award from abortion giant Planned Parenthood at a reception Thursday evening. The award will be given in recognition of her efforts in passing the federal health care legislation, and, in particular, for her help in ensuring that the Stupak abortion funding ban was not inserted in the bill.
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood confirmed with LifeSiteNews.com that Pelosi would be receiving the Champion for Women's Health award, which recognizes "efforts to support women and their reproductive health."
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will also receive the award.
In a statement, PP lauds Pelosi for having been “instrumental” in the passage of the federal health care bill, which was strenuously opposed by every major pro-life organization in the U.S., as well as the U.S. Catholic bishops, because of its abortion mandate. The statment also praises Pelosi for having "led her female colleagues in Congress as they stood strong against attempts to insert the Stupak abortion ban into the bill."
“With their steadfast commitment to passing health care reform and making sure that women will be able to get the health care they need, the women leaders we honor today set the course to change the lives of millions of women for generations to come,” said PP President Cecile Richards.
While Pelosi and the Obama administration have repeatedly claimed that the health care law would not fund abortion, pro-life groups have warned that such claims are clearly contradicted by the facts. They have also warned that the last-minute Executive Order (EO) issued by Obama in exchange for the votes of the few remaining “pro-life” Democrats led by Bart Stupak does little more than “reiterate” what is already in the bill.
Immediately after the bill was passed in March Richards issued a statement dismissing the EO as a “symbolic” gesture, and announcing that “monumental progress” had been made in strengthening “women’s health.”
"The award is Planned Parenthood's way of saying thank you for elevating the abortion machine that is Planned Parenthood to a level of government funding never before imagined, through the passage of the government health care takeover pushed so relentlessly by Pelosi," Rita Diller, National Director of American Life League's STOPP Planned Parenthood project, told LifeSiteNews.com.
"And she did it all while mocking God, claiming to be a devout Roman Catholic. Pelosi's final award will await her at the end of her life, when the blood of millions of innocent babies will rise up from the ground to testify against her."
Ironically, at the very height of the health care debate, even as the U.S. bishops were stepping up their efforts against the bill and its abortion funding, Pelosi publicly invoked one of the most prominent Catholic saints – St. Joseph, who is also revered by Catholics as “patron” of the unborn - to help pass the health care bill.
"Today is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker," Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill in March. "It's a day where we remember and pray to St. Joseph to benefit the workers of America, and that's exactly what our health care bill will do."
It was not the first time that Pelosi has attempted to reconcile her pro-abortion views with her professed faith. During a now infamous interview on Meet the Press in 2008, Pelosi was asked by the interviewer, "When does life begin?"
Pelosi responded by sidestepping the question, appealing to her Catholic faith as the source of her uncertainty.
"I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time," she said. "And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator - St. Augustine said at three months. We don't know."
Pelosi then said that in her view the question of when life begins is a non-issue in the debate on abortion.
"Nancy Pelosi has proven herself time and time again an enemy of the preborn, an enemy of human rights and an enemy of women's health," said Diller. "When she accepts this award tonight from Planned Parenthood for her commitment to abortion rights, Pelosi will also be accepting moral culpability for her bigoted denial of basic human rights and the murder of millions of human beings. We will continue to pray for Rep. Pelosi while we oppose her murderous actions every step of the way."
