By Dave Andrusko

Just a few words about the results of a survey conducted by a Democratic pollster for Planned Parenthood which was picked up Monday by POLITICO and which I neglected to get to promptly.

You can't help but smile at the headline--"Poll: Sarah Palin not trustworthy on abortion." What else do you think would come out of something commissioned by the largest abortion chain in the world about a strongly pro-life woman? You might think POLITICO would do something more creative than add a few flourishes to what essentially is a PPFA press release, but no matter.

The poll was not just another example of pro-abortion feminists bashing a pro-life feminist. It was also to make PPFA look good by contrasting the percentage of registered voters who chose Sarah Palin "as trustworthy on women's heath issue" (24%) versus the 54% who "considerer Planned Parenthood trustworthy." (I couldn't find the actual poll, so who know how the questions were framed or the sequence.)

According to the story, the House Republican leaders' Pledge to America "proposes making the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding of abortion, permanent. It also pushes conscience clauses, that allow doctors, nurses and hospitals to refuse to provide abortion services."

And on top of that, "The poll found 56 percent of voters do not know where soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner stands on reproductive health issues, despite his strong record of anti-abortion rights activism." The brief POLITICO article would have you believe that, in effect, "If only the public knew," the pro-life leadership in the House would be in big trouble.

This is poppycock. For starters, the Pledge to America action plan is much worse, from PPFA'S perspective. It also includes a pledge to repeal and replace the recently enacted Obama health care law.

In addition it includes pledges to "establish a government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding of abortion and subsidies for insurance coverage that includes abortion"-- a reference to the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" which would permanently bar subsidies for abortion in all federal programs.

Does the Pledge "push conscience clauses"? A much fairer description would be just to reprint what the action plan says--that it would "enact into law conscience protections for health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and hospitals." And, by the way, would PPFA like to wager how the public feels about compelling health care providers who have objections to be involved in abortion?

And there is nothing unusual about the wider public not knowing a lot about Rep. Boehner's position on abortion. That would be true for about 99% of the members of the House and Senate.

What the public will learn is that Rep. Boehner is a strong and effective pro-life leader. If you read his speech at the last NRLC convention you will quickly understand why he received the National Right to Life Legislative Leadership Award for outstanding pro-life leadership in Congress (www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/June10/nv062810part2.html).

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