Now the dust has settled over the mid-term congressional elections in the US, some interesting facts are emerging. First, representative John Boehner, who is to be the new Speaker of the House (an office, of course, of great political power in the American system) is a Catholic. Well, you may say, so was the wretched pro-abortion Nancy Pelosi. No, but John Boehner is a Catholic (he is, it seems, guided by the Church).
 
He is given, it seems, to choking with emotion during speeches; he did it on Wednesday morning after emerging clearly as Speaker. He also did it (bless him) on receiving the 2010 Henry J Hyde Defender of Life Award. The pro-life group Americans United for Life gave it for his “extraordinary leadership in the fight to prevent taxpayer-funded abortion and for his work to protect women’s health in his own state of Ohio”.
 
We may well now see Congressional attempts to choke off the funding for abortion which is authorised in President Obama’s healthcare law (as it is, unhappily, in our own NHS): this will need legislation which Obama will be inclined, as a committed pro-abortionist, to veto. This would, however, add to his unpopularity. Obama says he wants to co-operate with the new House, which is, according to LifeNews.com, predominantly pro-life. So, we shall see what we shall see. At least there will be a fight.
 
It is perhaps worthwhile at this point to cast a final valedictory glance at the departing Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, a figure not without interest here, for we have our own quota of pro-abortion lay Catholics, most notably, perhaps, Tony and Cherie Blair (Tony consistently voted in favour of it, including one vote for abortion up to term).