FYI, Congressman Stupak

As Richard Doerflinger notes over at The Catholic Thing, an executive order from President Obama is not enough to ensure that the health care bill doesn't use federal funds for abortions:

"According to [decades of federal appellate rulings], such health legislation creates a statutory requirement for abortion funding, unless Congress clearly forbids such funding. That is why the Hyde amendment was needed in 1976, to stop Medicaid from funding 300,000 abortions a year. The statutory mandate construed by the courts would override any executive order or regulation ... Only a change in the law enacted by Congress, not an executive order, can begin to address this very serious problem in the legislation."

Wow. No one saw that coming. Except maybe Mr. Stupak...?


Also:

• William Saunders asks why we need an executive order when the Dems and the President told us the bill excludes federal funding for abortion...