Tennessee ‘Blue Dog’ Dem. flip-flops on abortion in health care bill
Bart Gordon’s flip-flop provides DECIDING VOTE for taxpayer-funded abortions in health care bill
Pro-life Tennesseans urged to sign petition against Gordon’s pro-abortion flip-flop
FPN – The Tennessee leader of a national family values group Friday blasted Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) for casting the deciding vote late Thursday to kill an amendment to the U.S. House of Representatives’ health care reform legislation that would have prohibited the use of tax dollars to pay for abortions.
Full text of amendment: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090730/hr3200_pitts_1.pdf
Family Policy Network of Tennessee spokesman Ron Shank said Friday, “Gordon betrayed every Tennessean who believes prenatal children have an inalienable Right to Life, and he added insult to injury by casting the deciding vote to force us to pay for abortions, including horrific late-term abortions that brutally terminate those children’s lives.”
“We hope every pro-life Tennessean will join us in asking Congressman Gordon if a pro-abortion group or lobbyist threatened him, cut a deal, or promised him a campaign contribution sufficient to change his vote from opposing taxpayer-funded abortions to supporting them,” Shank said.
[[ Click here to sign the petition now ]]
Shank added, “We’re asking pro-life citizens throughout Tennessee to join us in urging Gordon to get back to where he belongs with the values of our state. He needs to vote against Nancy Pelosi’s trillion-dollar socialized medicine, rationed healthcare, and abortion-funding scheme altogether.”
Shank pointed to official House Energy and Commerce Committee records available online, which indicate that Gordon was one of eight committee Democrats who earlier Thursday evening had joined all 23 committee Republicans in voting in favor of the pro-life amendment when it was initially approved by a vote of 31 to 27. (Roll call: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090730/hr3200_pitts_1_rc.pdf )
Committee records indicate that two hours later, however, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) used a parliamentary maneuver to bring the pro-life amendment back up for reconsideration. This time, it failed by a vote of 30 to 29, with Gordon flip-flopping to cast the deciding vote against the amendment. (Roll call: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090730/hr3200_pitts_1_rc2.pdf )
The Associated Press reported late Thursday night regarding Gordon’s flip-flop:
There was late-night drama in Waxman’s committee as an anti-abortion amendment passed when conservative Democrats joined Republicans to support it — then failed less than two hours later when Waxman used a procedural maneuver to bring it up for a second vote. In the intervening time, one conservative Democrat — Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee — changed his vote from ‘yes’ to ‘no.’ And a second conservative Democrat who hadn’t voted the first time — Rep. Zack Space of Ohio — voted ‘no.’ It was enough to take the amendment down on a vote of 29 to 30. The measure would have specified that health care legislation moving through Congress may not impose requirements for coverage of abortion, except in limited cases. [Story here: http://www.modbee.com/local/pmupdates/story/799671.html]
TAKE ACTION:
By signing Family Policy Network’s SECURE petition, your name and contact data will be compiled with many others from all over Tennessee who want Bart Gordon to explain why he flip-flopped on a vote to prevent taxpayer-funded abortions in so-called healthcare “reform.” The list will be forwarded to Gordon’s Washington, DC office.
| To sign this petition now, click here: http://familypolicynetwork.net/petitions/fpn/to-bart-gordon/ |
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Thank you for your support. Let’s pray Congressman Gordon does the right thing and votes to defend the unborn from now on.
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Family Policy Network (FPN) is an independent, national, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with board members and advisors in Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Tennessee. The group has supporters and participants in every state in the nation.