Tuesday, November 10, 2009

NOW's Terry O'Neill: "Hillary Clinton Would Have Fought for Our Rights"

"There’s no question that Hillary Clinton would have fought for our rights. There’s no question that she would have understood the devastating implications of the Stupak-Pitts amendment. She would not have countenanced the Democratic leadership."

Terry O’Neill,

Duh. But Goddess love her for saying it because in this clueless age somebody needs to shout the obvious from the rooftops.

Terry O'Neill has more to say: (snippets from ABC News)

“He has passed health care for half the population and an anti-abortion bill for the rest of us,” O’Neill said.

In our interview with President Obama on Monday, we asked the President whether the Stupak amendment meets or goes beyond his pledge to keep federal funds from funding abortions. "I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill," Mr. Obama said. "And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions."

That phrase – “this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill” – bothers O’Neill, she says. “Abortion is health care,” she says. “I read that quote to a huge number of people and they just gasped. Abortion is fundamental health care. Candidate Obama repeatedly said reproductive health care is a fundamental part of health care. Candidate Obama repeatedly said reproductive health care would be included in his health care package.”

During the Democratic primaries, the
campaign of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, suggested that Obama would not fight for abortion rights as would Clinton. O’Neill sees this current action in that light.