Bipartisanship drove passage of new anti-abortion law
A whole lot of Democrats in the House and Senate voted for the proposal. And the proposal they were voting on was part of the federal health care bill. The federal bill passed by Democrats in Washington, signed into law with much fanfare by President Barack Obama and called a big deal by Vice President Joe Biden, gives the states the right to do just what Mississippi did.
And believe it or not, it appears there was actually bipartisanship in the Mississippi Legislature in drafting the legislation.
The language in the proposal as first introduced by Nunnelee was much more aggressive. What the legislation actually did was the same, but the tone was different.
The original bill included language that could be construed as political statements on behalf of the anti-abortion movement. Apparently some senators – presumably Democrats – told Nunnelee they did not oppose what he was trying to do in prohibiting the health insurance exchanges from covering abortions, but had a problem with the tone of the language in the bill.
Nunnelee apparently accommodated those concerns. The bill that passed his Appropriations Committee and ultimately passed the Senate and House did not include that language.
That legislation, as passed by the House and the Senate, was more of a nuts and bolts bills and made no statements for better or worse about abortion or the new federal health care law.
It still did just what Nunnelee intended, but without the declaratory statements that made some people uneasy.
In the end, Nunnelee was able to get what he wanted while still working with his colleagues from the other party. As a result the proposal passed the Senate with almost no dissent. By the time the proposal had reached the House, for better or worse, some partisanship had resurfaced, though many Democrats in the House still voted for the proposal.
Bobby Harrison
Daily Journal
5/7/10
Magnolia Tribune
