Planned Parenthood About to Face a Big, New Competitor…

While we were watching Kagan’s confirmation last week, an amendent sponsored by Senator Ronald ”Blago-pal” Burris (D-Ill.) and spawned by the Senate Armed Services Committee’s 15-12 vote in late May, will allow abortion procedures in clinics or hospitals on military installations worldwide.  The amendment to the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act passed the Senate along a partyline vote, with the exception of Ben “Cornhusker Kickback” Nelson.

The Washington Times accurately calls it a “ruse” to “accomplish radical social change – to mainstream abortion, to press the government into providing it on a widespread scale so that it becomes respectable and ordinary”:

In late May, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved an 11th-hour amendment by Democratic Sen. Roland Burris of Illinois to overturn the long-standing restrictions on abortion in military hospitals during the committee‘s work on the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act and after protracted debate on the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The Burris amendment passed on a party-line vote with one Democrat, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voting no. While Elena Kagan‘s confirmation hearings directed attention away from the Defense authorization bill, Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan has called for this issue to be dealt with as soon as possible after the Senate returns from August recess.

Under current law, Department of Defense resources may be used for emergency abortions to save the mother’s life and in cases of rape or incest, restrictions first added to the U.S. Code in 1984 and 1996.

Elective abortions, on the other hand, have been disallowed in military hospitals for decades, with the exception of a brief period when President Clinton reversed the policy in January 1993, only to have Congress vote to restore it in 1995. Under current law, military women are free to leave the base and make their own private arrangements for an elective abortion.

Mr. Burris‘ amendment would overturn current law so that elective abortions are performed in U.S. military clinics and hospitals by military personnel, putting the armed forces in competition with Planned Parenthood as the nation’s largest abortion provider.