Consider this a quick follow-up to my earlier post on the National Journal “primer” on the HHS contraception mandate. A day or so ago, the one man who might have stopped ObamaCare at the final hour now says he got shafted. Bart Stupak had held out for statutory prohibitions on abortion funding through ObamaCare but settled instead for an ambiguous executive order — and saw his political career crash to an end. Now he’s unhappy because his fellow Democrats promised him they’d respect conscience objections:

Today, as a private citizen, I’m proud to stand with the Green and Hahn families and their corporations, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, in seeking to uphold our most cherished beliefs that we, as American citizens, should not be required to relinquish our conscience and moral convictions in order to implement the Affordable Care Act. …

[W]e received an ironclad commitment that our conscience would remain free and our principles would be honored. With our negotiations completed and our legislative intent established by the colloquy, we agreed to an executive order directing federal agencies to respect America’s longstanding prohibitions on government funding of abortion and most relevant here, to respect longstanding protections for individuals and organizations conscientiously opposed to participating in or facilitating abortions.

I was deeply concerned and objected to the HHS mandate that required all health plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptives, including four drugs and devices that could terminate human life at its earliest stages by preventing an embryo’s implantation in the womb. The FDA’s own labeling statements, as well as other studies, indicate that drugs such as the 5-day-after pill (Ella), as well as intrauterine devices (IUDs), may operate this way. The Greens and the Hahns cannot, in good conscience, risk subsidizing actions that may take human life.

Democrats from Obama on down promised that people could keep their current plans, keep their preferred doctors, pay lower premiums, and have a website that works. Sorry to see former Rep. Stupak shocked, shocked about being betrayed, but that’s the way most of us felt about Rep. Stupak when he caved on his principles in the first place.

Also, how long does Stupak expect that EO to remain in effect after this? Just asking…