Anti-Choice Lawmakers Post-Health Care Reform Tack

As the House took up health care reform legislation, anti-choice lawmakers suddenly claimed the belief that Americans' health-care decisions should be private.
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As the House of Representatives took up health-care reform legislation, anti-choice lawmakers suddenly claimed the belief that Americans' health-care decisions should be private - despite their own long, stubborn history of attempts to deny women the very same right.

Perhaps in the future they will bring these newfound views to debates about reproductive health... but I won't be holding my breath.

"This is unprecedented. It is an unprecedented intrusion of government into one of the most personal areas of our lives." - Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX)
  • Rep. Thornberry has cast 113 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.
"The American people have spoken. They do not want the tentacles of the Federal Government reaching into their lives and controlling their personal health care decisions." - Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)
  • Rep. Camp has cast 142 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.
"Will we choose the path to be in control of our own health, or will we choose to go the way of a European nanny state where government intrusive forces health choices upon us? ...The American people don't desire more oppressive, government in charge of their health. The people want to control their own lives." - Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)
  • Rep. Poe has cast 13 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.
"Americans have spoken loud and clear. We are saying ``no'' to more government control of our lives." - Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL)
  • Rep. Mack has cast 13 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.
"[This health-care bill] places control in the hands of government bureaucrats rather than letting Americans decide for themselves what is best for their families." - Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
  • Rep. Ros-Lehtinen has cast 148 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during her congressional career.
"[This legislation] will become a wall of government between [families] and their doctor." -Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
  • Rep. Capito has cast 20 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during her congressional career.
"We don't need some agency to make decisions about our family's health care." - Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL)
  • Rep. Putnam has cast 30 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.
"[Americans] fear government involvement in their medical decisions." - Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
  • Rep. Schmidt has cast 8 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during her congressional career.
"Madam Speaker, today's vote defines what kind of America we want to live in. I for one know exactly what that is; it is the America I fought and sacrificed for, and all the freedoms we hold dear... [including] freedom from bureaucrats coming between you and your doctor." - Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)
  • Rep. Johnson has cast 156 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.
"Ultimately, this bill is about robbing America of one of its greatest distinctives: freedom of the individual. It's about robbing the American citizen of power, and putting it in the hands of left-wing bureaucrats and elitists who think they know more about running people's lives than the people themselves know." - Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)
  • Rep. Franks has cast 19 votes opposing reproductive freedom and privacy during his congressional career.

To view the most-recent edition of NARAL Pro-Choice America's Congressional Record on Choice, please visit our web site.

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