On Sunday I spoke to a gathering of 1,800 in Omaha. As I told them: Let us remember that this country was founded on the noble idea that decentralized power in the hands of citizens would have the best chance of preserving liberty. It should not be government ruled by one party, with laws decided in secret rooms of the Capitol late at night, and leaders that say to you: “Just listen, follow, and obey — we know what is good for you.”

This health-care debate is no longer about real health-care reform; it’s about power. Thoughtful health-care reform could have been achieved with 80-percent support: Health-care reform that drove down costs, improved health-care outcomes, and protected vulnerable persons. The current bill is not likely to reduce costs or improve outcomes, and it will reduce health-care liberties.

And good health-care policy should be, in its essence, about healing. No American should be forced to have their taxpayer dollars pay for abortion. Abortion is not health care. Abortion hurts women. Women deserve better than abortion. The early feminist movement recognized this, and we should too.

On this fundamental tenet of justice, there should be no talk of a political compromise. You either protect life or you don’t.

So now what? Engage. As someone recently said to me, there is nothing wrong in America that can’t be fixed by what is good in America.

— Jeff Fortenberry is a Republican congressman from Nebraska.