At Conservative confab

Here at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road in the Albany County suburb of Colonie, the New York State Conservative Party is hearing from speakers including Betsy McCaughey, whom I just caught the end of. She was -- unsurprisingly -- opposing "Obamacare," and said it's not the case that there is no alternative. Congress could, for example, retain the provision of last year's law letting adult children up to 26 stay on their parents' health insurance plan. But, she noted, "There is no tooth fairy," and requiring insurers to cover more people longer will result in imore expensive premiums for consumers.

Now Kathleen Gallagher, director of pro-life activities for the New York State Catholic Conference, is speaking. She says about a third of the state's stem cell research program is going to embryo-killing research, and that's a good place to cut (along with full Medicaid abortion coverage, which New York is one of only four states to provide). Gallagher said the Reproductive Health Act, whic is supported by state Democratic leaders, would among other things require all hospitals, including Catholic ones, to perform abortions. She said she is worried about pro-abortion legislation potentially being inserted into the budget process or the Medicaid task force report.