Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Nation & World

God and Country by Dan Gilgoff

A Divided Vote on Sebelius, but Little GOP Talk on Abortion Concerns

April 21, 2009 04:54 PM ET | Dan Gilgoff | Permanent Link | Print

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

The Senate Finance Committee approved Kathleen Sebelius's nomination to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services today, but antiabortion forces seized on the split 15-to-8 committee vote to claim growing Republican opposition to Sebelius over her ties to late-term abortion provider George Tiller. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins just released this statement:

"The divided committee vote on Gov. Sebelius's nomination reflects growing grassroots opposition to Gov. Sebelius as questions continue to mount regarding her failure to disclose deep financial ties to late-term abortionist George Tiller. In the last few days, our supporters have sent nearly 40,000 emails to the Senate urging opposition to the Sebelius nomination . . . ."

But the Kansas City Star reports that the only outspoken opposition to Sebelius from a member of the Senate Finance Committee had nothing to do with abortion:

The only vocal objection came from Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona who said he worried that Sebelius would be too quick to put limits on patient care. Kyl said Sebelius had a "insufficient commitment" to the right of Americans to choose their own doctor and health care plan.

This isn't the first instance of GOP sheepishness when it comes to confronting Sebelius on abortion. Republicans on the Finance Committee declined to ask Sebelius about her abortion position or her connection to Tiller during her confirmation hearing a few weeks ago.

With today's committee vote, it seems as if some GOP senators want to get credit for opposing Sebelius without taking a clear stand against her. Antiabortion forces may publicly be cheering the Republicans who opposed Sebelius today, but they're privately grinding their teeth over the silent treatment they're getting from their favored party.

Tags: abortion | Republicans | religion | Kathleen Sebelius

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Reader Comments

Sebilius

Anyone who places such an insignificant value on human life and the dignity of life, is simply not trustworthy.

She will destroy any dignified life and death issues that we will all face at some time in our own lives. The government will decide who will recieve life saving medication, now that's a fact, are you confident that you will be in the receiving end or the other end?

Sibelius, Dr. Tiller and Abortion

I second what thebob writes, and I would add: let other than white male Christians be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14-15)! The vapidness of the twisted religous right reigns.

Free speech

Doctors performing legal and necessary medical procedures should not be able to give campaign contributions?? Maybe we should just limit voting to white male Christians.

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Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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