Update: The more I think about this the more incoherent it is. Just think about the tax deduction issue and how conservatives typically claim this is the money of the person who earned it and is paying the taxes, not the governments. But here you have supposed ‘conservatives’ claiming you cannot deduct YOUR medical bills from YOUR taxes because these taxes ARE THE GOVERNMENT’S MONEY! This is not taxpayer money funding abortions – it is an individual’s money. My money was not used in these situations.

When social conservatives start acting like liberals – just with a different agenda – it is time to jettison both fringes. – end update

In an era when what people want is less government intrusion, you would think the social conservatives would by themselves a clue. But no. They seem hell bent in making the same mistake liberals did in attempting to use the federal government to force their preferred values and priorities on the rest of us. Case in point, trying to limit what ‘rape’ means because of their extreme pro-life wing:

For years, federal laws restricting the use of government funds to pay for abortions have included exemptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. (Another exemption covers pregnancies that could endanger the life of the woman.) But the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” a bill with 173 mostly Republican co-sponsors that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has dubbed a top priority in the new Congress, contains a provision that would rewrite the rules to limit drastically the definition of rape and incest in these cases.

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to “forcible rape.” This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion.

Given that the bill also would forbid the use of tax benefits to pay for abortions, that 13-year-old’s parents wouldn’t be allowed to use money from a tax-exempt health savings account (HSA) to pay for the procedure. They also wouldn’t be able to deduct the cost of the abortion or the cost of any insurance

First off, I oppose federally funded abortions for convenience and irresponsibility. I also believe in the sanctity of life. But I draw the line when government steps in on family or personal decisions. We can win the abortion issue with education (e.g., showing how legally and scientifically an embryo is a unique human individual and not a bunch of cells from the mother) and support.

But this is NOT a priority. We don’t need bureaucrats determining who is and is not ‘raped’. If a court or statre laws rules it is a rape, then it is a rape. And funding of abortions through insurance is not the business of the government. I don’t want government telling me what to do from the left or the right with my family and their challenges. And they don’t have a right to tell me how to use my medical insurance!

You’d think these bozos would have understood – keep out of our lives. Cut the government, don’t extend its cancerous tentacles.