I’ll be honest, I am rather ignorant about the ins and outs of the bill signed last night. However, I received the letter below from a trusted source, Brian Burch of CatholicVote.org. He believes that Stupak has done immeasurable harm to the pro-life cause.

Here is Brian Burch’s open letter to supporters of CatholicVote.org:

Dear Friend of CatholicVote.org,

I just got off the phone with the campaign director for Rep. Bart Stupak.

I told her that the members of CatholicVote.org were appalled by his decision to cave and give President Obama control over taxpayer funding for abortion. I also told his staff that we are rescinding our invitation for him to speak at a special CatholicVote.org event scheduled in Chicago for late April.

Rep. Stupak accepted a meaningless promise of an “Executive Order” that does not address the fundamental problems of the bill. In doing so, he not only allowed the pro-abortion bill to pass, his actions gutted any hope for a bipartisan pro-life movement that many argued would have been possible had he stood firm.

After everything we did to support Stupak and his coalition, his actions yesterday were devastating. We were betrayed.

Reality Check

Confronting a loss of such significance is dispiriting. The emails pouring into CatholicVote range from frustration with politics in general to questions about whether there can truly be a pro-life Democrat.

I share many of these frustrations. Our staff did everything possible to stop this disaster. We worked around the clock last week and all weekend to hold the votes together. We worked with individual bishops and staff to encourage wavering votes to hold firm. We were in regular communication with key representatives and their staffs. We ran radio ads, and launched the Stand With Stupak campaign.

We were confident that we had the votes to stop the legislation, until the end, when Stupak and his key allies folded.

The “Stand With Stupak” campaign was about a principle, not a single man. The principle was simple – no compromise on abortion.

And in the end, even Bart Stupak didn’t stand with Stupak.

Looking Ahead

We may be a movement that is hope-filled, but we are also a movement of action.

The frustrations and anger you are inevitably feeling now cannot be ignored. Over the next 7 months, we will be preparing for the November elections.

Any politician who supported this bill must pay a price. And that price is ultimately paid at the ballot box.

The backers of this health care bill never gave up. They fought for nearly a year against public opinion, and wore down their opponents until they got what they wanted.

We must resolve to do the same.

Remember what happened last night.

Remember how you feel right now.

November will be here before you know it.

Sincerely,

Brian

A penny for your comments (not really – but I’d like to hear thoughts about all this). – Taylor