I agree with Phil’s assessment. The executive order is essentially a reiteration of the Senate abortion language coupled with promises of enforcement by a pro-choice administration. If you don’t find that language persuasive, this executive order shouldn’t be either. That is why it is acceptable to pro-choice advocates in a way that the Stupak Amendment was not.
If the Obama administration goes beyond the Senate abortion language and moves closer to Stupak in its interpretation of the health care bill once it becomes law, it is not clear that federal courts will let it stand. And that is the most charitable assumption one can make from a pro-life perspective under the terms of this “deal.”
