NEW YORK, March 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Barack Obama is trying to lure anti-abortion Democrats to vote yes for the Senate health bill with promises that he will "fix" their fears of abortion funding with an Executive Order. But Executive Orders cannot change the law. The Supreme Court made that clear in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company v. Sawyer , 33 US 579 (1952).

Like Speaker Pelosi's idea of "deeming" the Senate bill passed by the House, which fortunately is no longer being considered, this idea of using an Executive Order will not survive constitutional scrutiny. Article 1 Sect. 7 prescribes one and only one method of lawmaking. The President cannot do it alone by Executive Order.

"An Executive Order would be a temporary and constitutionally flawed fix for the abortion issue," said Betsy McCaughey, former Lt. Governor of New York State and the author of two books on the history of the U.S. Constitution. "The high court has repeatedly ruled that lawmaking must adhere to the rigorous procedures laid out in Article 1 Section 7. Sadly the President and the Speaker, though bound by oath to uphold the Constitution, like to play fast and loose with it."

SOURCE Betsy McCaughey