News From Nevada LIFE
April 2, 2009
Reid Says He Could Support Health Care Bill Covering
Abortion
Dear Right To Life Friend,
Last week "pro-life" Senator Harry Reid said he could
support a health care bill covering abortion. Last week
Senator John Ensign authored an amendment to help Crisis
Pregnancy Centers. These Senators need to hear from us.
"Pro-life" Harry Reid says he could support health care
bill covering abortion. On March 27, 2009, Weekly
Standard reporter John McCormack asked Nevada Senator
Harry Reid "if he could support a national health care
bill that provided coverage for abortion." Reid replied
"I
could."
The Weekly Standard notes that in 1998 Reid said he
opposed taxpayer funding of abortion in a survey and
that he voted to keep the Indian Health Care Improvement
Act from funding abortion in February 2008. Reid needs
to say whether he still opposes taxpayer abortion
funding bans and if he would support or oppose a
national health care plan that covered abortion.
Nevada LIFE has asked the Senator to "oppose taxpayer
funding of abortion, lifting of the Hyde Amendment,
oppose any national health care bill that includes
abortion coverage and oppose any requirement that
private insurers provide abortion coverage." You can ask
the Senator to do the same by
clicking here and sending him a short email.
Reid's spokesman Jim Manley told the Weekly Standard
that there was no provision at this time to do these
things. This may be true, but they are being widely
discussed and advocated.
Not only is it wrong to force the taxpayer to pay for
abortion, taxpayer funding of abortion will increase the
number of abortions. NARAL Pro-choice America itself
says that the Hyde Amendment alone, which bans taxpayer
funding of abortion except for rare instances of rape,
incest or a threat to the life of the mother, has kept
half of the women who would have aborted from aborting.
Planned Parenthood cites research that the Hyde
Amendment keeps about 18-35 percent of women who would
abort from aborting.
Those numbers are staggering. Millions of Americans are
alive today because of that one amendment banning
taxpayer funding of abortion. If the Senator and others
are serious about reducing the number of abortions, they
must oppose taxpayer funding of abortion and oppose
making abortion coverage part of a national health care
program.
Don Nelson
Nevada LIFE
