Thread: NE: Gov. not budging on prenatal bill

Published Friday March 19, 2010
Gov. not budging on prenatal bill

By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

LINCOLN -- Gov. Dave Heineman on Friday repeated his opposition to taxpayer-funded prenatal services for low-income women who are in the country illegally.

But the pro-life governor declined to say if he would change his mind if women begin choosing abortion because they can't get state-funded preventative health services.

The World-Herald, over the past two days, has reported that at least seven women have told clinicians in Omaha and Schuyler that they plan to seek abortions because they cannot afford the prenatal services themselves.

A Schuyler, Neb., doctor said one of his patients had chosen an abortion, though he declined to name the women due to privacy laws.

During a telephone news conference, Heineman said he hopes the women considering abortion will reconsider. He questioned whether the Schuyler abortion was a confirmed case.

Asked if confirmation would change his mind, the governor said, "I'm not going to speculate. I think that question would be better directed to the Legislature."

Offering taxpayer-funded prenatal services to low-income women, regardless of immigration status, was a more than 20-year tradition in Nebraska that ended March 1 under a federal directive. A controversy pitting pro-life and anti-immigration forces has erupted over restoring such aid.

A bill to restore the coverage was killed earlier this week, but on Thursday a trio of state senators said they plan to revive the issue during the final four weeks of the 2010 Legislative session.

"My position is crystal clear," Heineman said during the press conference. "It seems to me, each one of you ought to be asking the 48 senators: Where does Sen. White stand? Where does Sen. Fulton stand. Where does Sen. Lathrop stand? Where does Sen. Price stand?"

"I look forward to the reporting on that," the governor said.

The governor also called out Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, one of the senators seeking to revive the issue, for opposing the motion to kill the prenatal bill earlier this week.

Nordquist said that it's the custom for lawmakers to provide unanimous consent when a senator asks to kill their own bill, which is what Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell did.

Nordquist said the governor, who is up for re-election this year, could restore prenatal care administratively, but "he's more interested in pointing fingers."

"It's obvious that the governor is trying to make this an election issue while women are choosing to terminate the pregnancies of Nebraska babies," he said.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100319/NEWS01/100319522

Thank God!

Thank God!

My advice to the Pro-Lifers is to start raising money for bus and plane tickets to deport these pregnant illegal aliens out of Nebraska to their homeland of citizenship so they can be in the loving arms of their family and friends who I'm sure will provide them with all the pre-natal care they can stand.