I received this question from a friend on Facebook:
So, Jill, what happened with Nelson? You and other pro-life leaders were advising people to be "calm" and to thank him, and all indications now are that he prostituted his vote like so many others. How do you know who to trust?
My friend was speaking about a blog post I wrote Dec. 11 encouraging pro-lifers to maintain support of Sen. Ben Nelson, D-NE. In that post I relayed an e-mail received from Democrats for Life's president, Kristen Day, assuring everyone Nelson was unwavering in his refusal to vote for any health-care bill excluding a Stupak-like pro-life amendment:
Dear pro-life Friends,
Sen. Nelson has been a strong leader on our behalf. ... I have been assured that he has not changed his opinion and has not gone back on anything he has said. Senator Nelson has taken a very hard line with the Caucus, and they are trying hard to appease him because they need his vote.
I assure you that the senator has not backed down from his commitment...
Up to the end Nelson was working with all the right people - Democrats for Life, NE Right to Life, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, pro-life MI Rep. Bart Stupak.
But in the end, Nelson betrayed them all....
Continue reading my column today, "Ben Nelson's betrayal," at WorldNetDaily.com.
JMJ
As I watched Nelson stating his position these last few weeks, I could not get it out of my mind that he was ultimately, more of a senator, more of a pol, more of a Dem, day to day certainly, and less of a pro lifer. So, I wasn't surprised when he pulled his Judas Iscariot-like betrayal. The last paragraph of the Manhattan Declaration, www.manhattandeclaration.org says it all: We will not comply with immoral legislation. In a word, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. [come and get me Janet, Rahm, Holder]