It appears liberals will not only concede placing a timeline for troop withdrawal from Iraq in the emergency defense spending bill, they will also concede loosening military abortion policy.

One news report called the former "a significant concession to Bush and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill."

The latter is equally significant.

Remarkably, despite a Democrat majority in the House, missing from the defense appropriations bill will be an amendment to fund military abortions overseas.

What makes this remarkable is this will be the first year since 1996 liberals have not attempted to add this provision.

Also missing will be an amendment to make the Department of Defense pay for abortions in the case of rape or incest, which liberals have occasionally submitted through the years.

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Another event remarkable in that it didn't happen occurred May 16 when Democrat pro-abort Rep. Michael Michaud failed to submit his amendment on the House floor that would have required all military pharmacies to stock the morning-after pill.

At present, military pharmacies have free choice to stock emergency contraception, and about half do.

Word is Democrat leadership counted the votes, saw they were short, and told Michaud to spare them all the embarrassment.

Only the day before, Congressional Quarterly reported Michaud's anti-choice amendment as almost a done deal, although CQ hid what was really at stake:

… Michaud... is expected to press an amendment that would make contraception available at all military health care facilities.

Sounds harmless, as intended, but the amendment was about much more and had serious ramifications. It would have forced conscientiously objecting military pharmacists to defy a direct order if refusing to fill the MAP prescription, since it may cause abortions, and provoke a court martial.

In the end, this gave even the most ardent MAP supporters pause, particularly after President Bush weighed in against the amendment.

Also giving them pause may have been that the liberal Rules Committee refused to add a parental notification provision to Michaud's amendment if a minor girl requested the MAP.

They rejected this despite an Army Times report only two weeks ago that "the Defense Department saw a 40 percent increase in the number of reported sexual assault cases in just one year."

Many needing protection from predators are daughters of enlisted personnel on military bases. This just goes once again to show liberals support pedophilia cover-up.

Here's a salute to the House Pro-Life Caucus and to pro-family public policy organizations for once again keeping domestic abortion terrorists at bay in our military, this time under particularly daunting circumstances.

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