According to the abortion lobby the Stupak-Pitts amendment was a ploy by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to obstruct the rights of women.

A press release by the Center for Reproductive Rights went so far as to claim, “The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has apparently been given veto power over legislation intended to provide affordable healthcare coverage to all Americans, including women.”

Pretending the pro-life movement is reducible to the Catholic clergy and that they are trying to take over the U.S. government is a move straight from the play-book of Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger.

When Sanger did not get support from a single member of Congress in her bid to repeal the Comstock Act in 1926, she reported in the March newsletter of the American Birth Control League that the National Catholic Welfare Council (the predecessor of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) had created “a special legislative committee organized to block and defeat our legislation. They frankly state that they intend to legislate for non-Catholics according to the dictates of the church.”

However, no such committee existed. Unable to sway Congress, Sanger sought to sway public opinion by painting the Catholic Church as her only opposition. The fact that what she was saying was not true did not matter to Sanger.

The pro-abortion lobby built on the success of Sanger’s strategy leading up to Roe. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a former abortionist and one of the founders of NARAL, explained that vilifying the Catholic Church and claiming the hierarchy was the sole opponent to the abortion cause was a “key tactic” for the legalization of abortion.

Sanger’s strategy is being employed again today. Catholic-baiting will continue as the Senate moves forward with its health-care proposal. But the difference between 1926, 1972, and 2009 is that we can fact check a lot faster today.

When the abortion lobby tries to marginalize pro-lifers, it’s easy to find the polls showing more Americans, and more American women, are pro-life.

When the abortion lobby calls on the president to allow abortion funding in health care, it’s easy to remind him that 58 percent of Americans disapproved when he allowed abortion funding by reversing the Mexico City Policy.

And when the abortion lobby claims the only real opponent to abortion funding is the Catholic bishops, it’s easy to verify that 71 percent of Americans actually oppose the use of their tax dollars to fund abortion.

The abortion lobby continues their game-plan of “cheat to win,” but we are in the era of instant replay. America is not fooled.

– William Saunders is senior vice president of legal affairs for Americans United for Life.