Executive Disorder on Abortion: Roe v. Wade at 38

Chuck Donovan / January 24, 2011

The 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision occurred over the weekend, renewing public attention on the question of taxpayer-funded abortion.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, staunchly defending the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), told The Hill newspaper that the law known as Obamacare “provides no taxpayer funding for abortion.” For much of the media, that assertion has come to loggerheads, with irreconcilable differences of interpretation of the terms funding and subsidies and arguments about the scope and effectiveness of President Obama’s executive order.

Sebelius’s attempt to downplay the tenuousness of the funding limitations was offset last week by the frank acknowledgment of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel that the Obama order was his idea. Emanuel told The Chicago Tribune in an interview on January 14 that the order broke the impasse over the health care bill by allowing the Stupak–Pitts anti-abortion funding amendment “not to exist by law but by executive order.” This maneuver worked, facilitating passage of the PPACA but opening the abortion limitation to removal by either executive action or judicial decree. Only Congress can ensure that the limitation is no longer vulnerable to decisions of the other two branches of government, and that action is something strong majorities of Americans clearly support.

In just two short weeks, the nation will mark the centennial of the birth of Ronald Reagan. As President, Reagan began the tradition of issuing a proclamation marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and calling on Americans to reflect on the value of human life. As he wrote in 1985: (more…)