Newsweek's Clift Laments Impact of Pro-life Democrats on Health Care Bill

The pesky thing about abortion for pro-choice stalwarts is that when it comes to the will of the people through their legislatures, they often lose more battles than when the voters in question are black-robed judges in a courtroom.

Just ask Newsweek's Eleanor Clift, who is bummed about the Stupak-Pitts Amendment and its effect on the Democrats' hopes for a health care reform bill that puts in place a government-run health care "option" (emphasis mine):

When health-care reform passed the House by just two votes late Saturday night, I assumed Speaker Nancy Pelosi had several more votes in her pocket from Blue Dogs who would be there if she needed them. After all, that's how Washington works. I also figured I shouldn't get too worked up about the restrictive amendment on abortion that was added at the last minute because it would be stripped from the legislation when it went to conference and was merged with the Senate bill.

It took just a little reporting for me to discover how wrong my initial assessments were.... [D]itching the amendment advanced by pro-life Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak is unlikely.

The prospect of a Democratic Congress curtailing reproductive rights as a price for health-care reform is yet another reality check for those of us who thought Democratic control of Congress and the White House heralded a new day for progressive policies.  We have won the battle for women on right-to-choose in the courts," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Chris Van Holland told NEWSWEEK. "We've never won this in Congress. It's a mistake to say that now Democrats are in charge, it's different. If we ever had a vote up or down on Roe v. Wade, my best guess is that it might be defeated."

For Clift, the very existence of a sizable pro-life minority in the Democratic caucus is proof that "Both Parties Abandon[ed] Women's Rights," although she predictably concludes that Republicans are "even worse" and hints that pro-life Democrats might stoke anti-incumbent ire at the polls in the 2010 midterms:

Democrats didn't fare well this past week when it came to female-friendly policies, but Republicans looked even worse.

[...]

Voters on both sides of the abortion divide are more ambivalent in their views than the activists who profess to represent them. With both parties guilty of voter malpractice, the result is widespread anti-incumbent sentiment. Two thirds of Americans in the latest Pew Research survey say they are dissatisfied with the course of the country. They will be even more unhappy if health-care reform is taken hostage by abortion activists.