In case you haven't heard, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Bob KKKasey, and the Republicans in the Senate are off on another sexist and racist jihad. (NPR 12/7/09)

Monday afternoon, Democratic Senator of Nebraska Ben Nelson, introduced an amendment that would prevent private insurers who participate in the new insurance marketplaces called "exchanges" from offering abortion coverage to women who get public subsides. The wording of the amendment looks similar to the one offered by Democratic Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, and accepted into the House version of the bill. It caused major rifts among Democrats.

The Nelson amendment is sponsored by just one other Democrat, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, plus seven Republicans.

The kind of venomous hatred and bigotry in this amendment should have absolutely no place in American politics. Abortion is a basic human right of women that only the most fanatical of knucklewalkers oppose. Let's not forget that bigots like Nelson and KKKasey are also motivated by the Christian Right's desire to force white women to have more white babies. These two Phonycrats are poster children for everything that is miserable, corrupt, and hateful in American politics. They also are strong arguments in favor of the Green Party.

The National Partnership for Women and Families has an Action Alert fighting this sickening act of bigotry. Here's text from the email they sent me.

Dear Thomas,

We’re now one step closer to securing the meaningful health care reform you need and deserve with passage of Senator Barbara Mikulski’s amendment to improve coverage and affordability of women’s preventive health services.

But the threat to abortion rights is as real as ever. And we need your help.

Today, we expect Senators Nelson (D-NE) and Hatch (R-UT) to offer an outrageous amendment paralleling the House Stupak language which would ban abortion coverage in public and private insurance plans that receive federal funds. But the underlying bill already contains significant compromise language that precludes federal funds from being used for abortion services.

This attack on abortion rights is unprecedented — and threatens to take away coverage most women currently have today.

Make your voice heard — right now!

The kind of rhetoric spewed by bigots like KKKasey and Nelson has terrible consequences. Dr. Tiller, a great American hero, was murdered by a terrorist who was motivated by the lies told by the anti choice religious extremists. Opponents need to be held accountable for the consequences of their irresponsible and dishonest propaganda.

I should also point out that there is no secular, factual basis for opposing abortion. The facts of the argument are all in favor of that perfectly legitimate procedure. Laws against abortion are efforts to use the power of the state to shove religious beliefs down the throats of people who don't share them. Laws against abortion are unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and are blatantly discriminatory against atheists.

Please Take Action to Stop this Sinister Amendment!

Photo: Leo Reynolds