By Peter J. Smith
US Congressman Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) has now achieved the status of "Benedict Arnold" in the pro-life movement, and the National Right to Life Committee is making sure pro-life advocates know about it.
NRLC has announced a "Tim Ryan, pro-life impersonator" webpage to inform pro-life advocates that one of their own has now achieved "become a major asset to the pro-abortion lobby in Washington."
The webpage offers pertinent documents and links that detail Ryan's pro-abortion activities and includes a report by NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson that contains quotes critical of Ryan from pro-life groups and from key pro-life Congressmen in the House of Representatives.
Much like Benedict Arnold, the American whose name became synonymous with turncoat after his defection and attempt to betray key fortifications to the British Empire in the American War for Independence, Ryan's support was key to passing the Capps Amendment (30-28), which the Associated Press confirmed allows the federal funding of abortion under H.R. 3200 "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009."
But Ryan has continued to cling to his status as a "pro-life" politician, while his actions damage efforts of the pro- life movement to combat abortion-promoting legislation in Congress disguised as "common ground" or "compromise" measures.
NRLC's Johnson stated that Ryan "has not cast a pro-life vote since 2006, impersonates a pro-life lawmaker, but in reality he is an active agent of pro-abortion activists."
"When Tim Ryan calls for 'common ground,' you know he has a memo from Planned Parenthood in his pocket."
In an article provocatively entitled, "A Pro-Lie Democrat," The Weekly Standard (TWS) published this exchange of their interview with Ryan:
TWS: When do you believe life begins?
REP. RYAN: That answer's above my pay grade. That's for God to determine.
TWS: So you're not saying first trimester, second trimester, conception?
REP. RYAN: I don't know. I mean, that's God. God knows when it begins, and when it ends, and all that other stuff.
TWS noted that Ryan's "above my pay grade" answer copied President Obama's own retort to a similar question at the Saddleback Church debate with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
As a "common ground" measure, the Capps Amendment forbids the proposed "Health Benefits Advisory Committee" from mandating abortion coverage as an essential service for health plans included in the "Health Insurance Exchange." But it does mandate that every U.S. region have at least one abortion-covering private insurance plan, as well as one non-abortion-covering private insurance plan.
Moreover, the Capps Amendment explicitly mandates that the public health insurance option - which aims to provide for an estimated 46 million Americans who lack insurance - cover abortions through federal funding not restricted by the Hyde amendment. The new funding would come through beneficiary premiums of people buying into the public option, but also through taxpayer subsidies in the form of "affordability credits" for low-income and middle-income people buying through the "Health Insurance Exchange." The bill demands private insurers guarantee the "affordability credits" do not subsidize abortion procedures, although such a guarantee is practically impossible due to the fungible nature of money.
Ryan, a Catholic who once held a pro-life record, also voted last month in favor of abortion legislation that supported taxpayer funding for abortion in Washington, D.C.
Democrats for Life expelled Ryan from the group's advisory board due to his increasing pro-abortion voting record, according to executive director Kristen Day.
