October 13, 2010

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By Dave Andrusko

NRLC's has filed a 23-page affidavit at the request of attorneys for the Susan B. Anthony List ("SBA List"), a pro-life political action committee which had been sued by Congressman Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio).

On billboards posted in the Cincinnati area, and in other public utterances, officials of the SBA List have asserted that Driehaus "voted for taxpayer-funded abortion" when he voted to enact the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Obama health care law.

NRLC's affidavit explains in great detail why SBA List's assertion is truthful.

Congressman Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio)

As NRLC explained in a release, "Rep. Driehaus on October 5 filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission, utilizing a peculiar Ohio statute under which it is a violation to make 'a false statement concerning the voting record of a candidate or public official,' or to 'post, publish, circulate, distribute, or otherwise disseminate a false statement concerning a candidate, either knowing the same to be false or with reckless disregard of whether it is false or not . . .' [Ohio Revised Code 3517.21(B)(9) and (B)(10)]." If the Commission votes –and a three-member panel of the Commission will hold an initial hearing tomorrow-- that the disputed statements were "false," the statute "gives the Commission the power to either issue a public reprimand or to refer the matter to a county prosecutor with a recommendation for criminal prosecution. A criminal conviction under the statute is punishable by up to six months in jail and/or fine of $5,000."

NRLC's affidavit, filed with the Ohio Elections Commission, demonstrates three vitally important truths that are more important than ever as we are less than two weeks from the November 2 mid-term elections.

First, in spite of a never-ending stream of media statements to the contrary, the Obama health care law does in fact provide federal subsidies for elective abortion. In his affidavit, NRLC's Federal Legislative Director Douglas Johnson proves with 65 numbered paragraphs that in voting for ObamaCare Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) voted for a measure that "contained multiple provisions that do in fact authorize (i.e., create legal authority for) taxpayer funding of abortion, and that predictably will result in such funding in the future -- unless the law itself is repealed, or unless the law is revised by a future Congress to include statutory language along the lines of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment."

Second, that Democrats who voted for ObamaCare are desperate to hide the abortion connection. In Driehaus's case, this includes an unprecedented willingness to take a pro-life PAC to court for saying in a billboard that when he voted to enact the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Obama health care law, Driehaus had "voted for taxpayer-funded abortion."

The stakes are exceedingly high, which brings us to the third lesson to take away from the latest attempt to squelch free speech. NRLC's expertise and experience is absolutely vital in repelling attacks which are picking up speed in number and intensity. That includes the capacity to exquisitely debunk the favorite pro-abortion canard that President Obama's Executive Order cleansed ObamaCare of its abortion components.

This is simply not so. Johnson's affidavit demonstrated that there are no directives in President Obama's Executive Order "that apply to all, or even to most, of the provisions of the PPACA. The operative provisions that are actually contained in the Order are extremely narrow and highly qualified. . . Executive Order 13535 has the hallmarks of a primarily political document."

To buttress its case, NRLC attached 16 documents to the affidavit as exhibits, including a legal analysis of the abortion-related components of the law issued by the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; documentation on state PCIP plans for Pennsylvania and New Mexico that were initially approved by DHHS although they covered elective abortions; a Congressional Research Service report that confirmed that nothing in the PPACA or the Executive Order prevented the use of PPACA-authorized PCIP funds from being used for abortions; and the texts of the Stupak-Pitts and Nelson-Hatch Amendments which were proposed to prevent any part of the legislation from subsidizing abortion -- but which were opposed by President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders, and which were not part of the law as enacted.

Beyond the contents of the affidavit, NRLC's Johnson offered additional comments on the subject:

"It is outrageous the Ohio law allows an incumbent politician, like Steve Driehaus, to haul citizens before an appointed government tribunal, under threat of potential criminal prosecution, for expressing an opinion about the public policy implications of a vote that he cast in Congress. This is an incumbent-protection law that is intended to intimidate critics, reminiscent of the methods used to chill criticism in certain countries run by presidents-for-life. In America, anyone should be free to express their views on the effects of the bills that Mr. Driehaus voted for, without fear of criminal prosecution or fines. Mr. Driehaus enjoys full freedom to dispute his critics, with the voters as the ultimate judges about whose claims are most credible. Mr. Driehaus apparently does not trust the voters to see things his way, and so he attempts to utilize criminal-law strong-arm tactics in a pathetic effort to intimidate and gag his critics."

As far as we know, Driehaus is the only incumbent, so far this year, to employ a criminal statute against his pro-life critics, but a number of other House Democrats are trying hard to suppress pro-life groups' criticism of their votes in favor of the health care law. For example, recently attorneys for Rep. Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-Pa., Third District) sent a letter to local radio stations suggesting that a radio ad charging that she voted for "taxpayer-funded abortions" was "slanderous."

Both the NRLC affidavit and the collection of 16 documents can be viewed at or downloaded from the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org/AHC/DvSBA.

Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha.

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