The Abortive Renee Ellmers

Pro-Life Ribbon

This week, I was getting minute by minute reports from an Alabama
conservative reporting on the House passage of HR 7, which would defend the
unborn by defunding Planned Parenthood, barring taxpayer funds for abortions.

This welcome passage coincides with the 42nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a
disastrous legal decision which took the power of life and liberty away from
the mother, the unborn child, in many instances the father, and the fostering
of local communities. Liberal and conservative jurists have blasted that
decision, arguing against its poor legal logic and its one-size-fits-all
judicial activism.

After later reports, I learned that the House conference wanted to pass a
bill to ban abortions after twenty weeks, except in the cases of rape, incest,
or the life of the mother. Yet the bill was pulled at the last minute, sending
fearful shockwaves throughout the conservative blogosphere and right-wing
intelligentsia.

One of the most alarming headlines read:

Why
Everyone Should Be Terrified By The GOP’s Abortion Bill Debacle

While the article highlights the last-minute pulling of this bill, the
overreaction beating out in the hyperventilated rhetoric needs some
tempering.

First of all, Democrats have been the minority in the House since 2010,
having lost their majority after only two election cycles. Their forced passage
of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act forced out sixty Democrats.
In case anyone has been paying attention, the Democrats have their leanest
minority caucus since the 1930s. Add to that the 70% of state legislatures
controlled by Republicans, plus the comprehensive gerrymandering after the 2010
shellacking, and Republicans are pretty much destined to hold the House
Majority well into the next decade.

Second of all, Democrats as a brief majority party were hardly the model of
partisan unity. Cap and Trade passed by the slimmest of margins in 2009, then
died in the supermajority Democratic US Senate. Two dozen Democrats defected
and voted against the ACA in 2010, and after that, minority leader Nancy Pelosi
witnessed her caucus disappear, dwindle into insignificance, or defect to the
Republicans on key issues. During the 2013 government shutdown, Democrats began
voting with Republicans to repeal key portions of the offensive Obamacare, as
well as fund the government piecemeal. Even “Crazy Black Lady” Maxine Waters
has had to play nice with conservatives.

 The diminishing mainstream media will scream with preening vanity every time
Republicans make a mistake. This time, however, the countermedia and local conservatives
are pushing aside this biased narrative. Take a deep breath, everyone: the myth
of a fractured and vastly incompetent GOP caucus is greatly exaggerated. No
need to think of a happy place. We are already in one.

Congresswoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC)

However, what caused an otherwise near-certain bill to get pulled at the
last minute? Tony
Perkins of the Family Research indicted two key Republican lawmakers,
Renee Ellmers and Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana), both into their third terms in
Congress, and both starting to fray on key issues. Both had supported the full
provisions of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act  (PCUCP) in
2013, but reneged on their support this time. Congresswoman Ellmers
(R-NC) was already wobbling on this bill, and threatened to take with her
key votes for passage. Wanting to present a clear veneer of unity, Republican
leaders pulled the bill.

The fault, dear readers, lies not with House Leaders. Ellmers and Co.
aborted a popular abortion restriction bill because of concerns about the
reporting requirements for an individual mother who seeks an abortion because
of rape or incest. Yet they had supported the same bill two years ago,
with that provision included.

Time to panic? Soaring elephants now tripping on their trunks? No way.

First, the House GOP conference will have another chance to pass PCUCP.
Second, the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act unites even fiscally
conservative yet socially liberal types, since no one with any fiscal restraint
would support funding abortions with taxpayer dollars. Want to kill a baby? Do
it with your money, not mine.

Third, the stronger, conservative tone of Washington is making it easier to
identify then remove the Republican squishes who have weakened their
colleagues' hand on certain causes. Ellmers has proven to be an unwelcome, and
now unnecessary thorn in the Republican conference, and the conservative cause.
She has relentlessly pressed for immigration "reform", as well as caving
on the life issue. She backed
away from backing North Carolina's gay marriage ban. About her female colleagues
 Ellmers quipped:

We need our male colleagues to understand that if you can bring it down
to a woman’s level and what everything that she is balancing in her life –
that’s the way to go.

In other words: "Women are too stupid to understand all that
complicated man-talk". Really?

Renee Ellmers: The Female Eric Cantor

This "abortion fiasco" strengthens Republicans as they abort unhelpful members. Ellmers is the female Eric Cantor: pro-Establishment, anti-conservative
base, pro-amnesty, and unwelcome. She faced fierce primary challenges from
the right in two election cycles, and in her latest reelection, she faced off
against the hapless, laughable self-parody Clay Aiken. In 2016, she will no
doubt get thrown out in the face of a unified opposition.