..then how to understand those who insist it is?

Over at Politics Daily, David Gibson walks carefully through the allegations, with the help of Washington and Lee law professor Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, an ardent pro-lifer who’s an expert on abortion and health care.

“The bottom line is that health care reform is pro-life,” Jost said.
“We’re going to save an awful lot of lives with this bill … I
identify as a Christian, strongly, and I identify as someone who
believes in the sacredness of life. I just think this is a pro-life
bill. I’m really discouraged that people not only don’t want it but
also are spreading erroneous information about it. Because I don’t
think that’s something that Christians should do.”

What gives? In Gibson’s view, “Those who have laid down a marker against the Senate bill have a lot
invested in seeing it fail, or having it changed, if only to save face
given all they have invested in portraying the bill as ‘pro-abortion.'”

But not only to save face. The issue has also served opponents of health care reform as a useful pretext. Consider, for example Thomas Peters’ March 1 post on the American Principles Project Blog entitled, “Abortion funding issue still last best hope for halting health care legislation passage.” Such people will not permit themselves to admit that a bill is not pro-abortion simply because to do so would advance the cause of reform. The question comes down to which opponents fall into that camp.

Today, 25 pro-life Catholic theologians and evangelical leaders issued a letter (complete with point-by-point analysis) urging members of Congress not to let misleading information about the Senate bill’s abortion stance keep them from voting for reform. It’s time to separate the sheep from the goats.