The F Word: Stupak vs. The Nuns

Poor Bart Stupak. Apparently his life has become a living hell.

That's according to a recent profile in The Hill. Ever since he started trying to hold health care reform for ransom over abortion, he's had to deal with critics. He's had to deal, for example, with receiving letters from religious leaders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns.

Of the letters sent to Congress this week calling the health care reform bill "the real pro-life stance," Stupak said, "When I'm drafting right to life language, I don't call up the nuns."

They're only women, after all. Women, as Jodi Jacobson at RH Reality Check notes, who do the real work of ministering to women in need.

Stupak's clearly worried that his anti-reform stance may turn out to be the petard on which he hoisted his career. It's possible, but really it's not, actually, about him -- or even the President, or the Democrats.

It's about people's health. Will the Senate bill give more people more access to insurance? Probably. Will they be able to afford it? That's an open question. But will it save lives? No doubt. And that was the nun's point.

Just how many saved lives does he have to oppose before Stupak's stripped of the term "pro-life" once and for all?

The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.