Blunting the Facts
March 2 | Posted by mrossol | Liberal Press, ObamaCare, The LeftI wonder if the Left has ever thought about “Truth in Advertising” for their own positions?
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Nancy Pelosi called it “devastating legislation” and “the latest ploy in the Republican agenda of disrespecting the health of American women.” Planned Parenthood claimed the “dangerous proposal” would have allowed “your boss”—yes, yours—to decide “which prescriptions you can get filled and which medical procedures you can have,” including cancer screening, maternity care and AIDS medications.
It sounds medieval. But in fact, the provision that the Senate tabled yesterday would merely have restored the status quo ante of one month ago. Those were the dark ages before the Obama Administration overturned traditional conscience protections with its birth-control insurance mandate under the Affordable Care Act.
The amendment sponsored by Republican Roy Blunt failed 51 to 48, with three Democrats joining the GOP in support and one Republican against. But one thing this fracas did prove is that Americans do not like health-care mandates—which is why liberals stole the language of anti-coercion to defend their coercion.
Ponder the trouble Mitt Romney ran into Tuesday when an Ohio reporter asked him about the “Blunt-Rubio” amendment, which does not exist, and explained that it “deals with banning or allowing employers to ban providing female contraception.” Mr. Romney replied that he wasn’t in favor of that, like all Americans who don’t think they’ve been hijacked by spaceships. But the press corps was soon writing insta-stories about Mr. Romney’s putative split with the GOP Congressional wing, and the campaign rushed to issue a clarification.
The amendment had nothing to do with a “ban” on contraception, or any of the other delusions and distortions of the left. The real issue is that the ObamaCare mandate requires employers, including religious schools and hospitals, to buy coverage that may violate their moral beliefs. The Blunt amendment would merely have let those religious-affiliated institutions provide coverage without paying for care that violates their religious conscience. The real offense against freedom and women is the mandate.
The fact that Democrats don’t dare to accurately describe their own positions, or the regulations that they want to foist on everyone else, shows how extreme those positions and regulations really are.
A version of this article appeared Mar. 2, 2012, on page A12 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Blunting the Facts.
Review & Outlook: Blunting the Facts – WSJ.com.
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