When I went to bed last night, I heard that the Democrats and Republicans had reached a deal. I searched, without success, to find out if Planned Parenthood had, in fact, been defunded. This morning I read that “Planned Parenthood defunding was traded for a higher number of cuts.” I did not read this over at the National Catholic Reporter or Commonweal or America, those places in the blogosphere that, along with Vox Nova, might have predicted this move. No. I read it at Lifesitenews.
I know next to nothing about the American political process and so I often refrain from comment when stuff like this happens, but this one seems to lack any other explanation than the fact that the Republican leadership considers opposition to abortion little more than a useful bargaining chip to gain cuts to the budget.
As I said, I know next to nothing about how the American system works. Please relieve my ignorance. What are those Catholics who have insisted that Republicans are the only party we can vote for – because, despite any flaws, they are on the side of the angels in the most important human rights issue of our day – saying about this one? Is John Boehner the new Bart Stupak? Or is this all part of some master plan? Must we simply wait and trust that the GOP knows what it is doing here?
Brett Salkeld is a doctoral student in theology at Regis College in Toronto. He is a father of two (so far) and husband of one.
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