News From Nevada LIFE
March 8, 2010
The Reid Health Care Bill Is A Massive Abortion Funding
Bill.
Ten Ways The Reid Bill Funds Abortion.
The President, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are still
claiming that no public funds will be used for abortion
through health care reform and that the Reid Senate Bill
under consideration maintains the status quo of not
funding abortion with government funds.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The health care bill under
consideration is a massive abortion funding and
subsidization bill. Here are ten ways the Reid Health
Care Bill funds abortion.
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The Reid Health Care Bill Is A Massive Abortion Funding
Bill. Ten Ways The Reid Bill Funds Abortion.
Last week Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the law of the land
is there is no public funding of abortion and there is
no public funding of abortion in these bills Pelosi has
also said "I will not have it turned into a debate on
(abortion) . . . There is no change in the access to
abortion. No more or no less: It is abortion neutral in
terms of access or diminution of access. Reid and Obama
have made similar claims in the last year. Obama, Reid
and Pelosi know this is false.
First, there is no law that would prevent funding of
abortion through health care. When Pelosi, Obama,
Reid and others talk about some sort of abortion funding
ban, they are talking about the Hyde Amendment.
They all know that Hyde only prevents public funding
of abortion through Medicaid but will have NO impact,
thats right, no impact on stopping any funds
appropriated directly through the health care bill
itself.
Second, Hyde is not a permanent law. It is a yearly amendment or rider that has
been attached every year for the last thirty three years
to Health and Human Services bill. It can be removed if
not approved by both Houses of Congress and the
President. Reid, Obama and Pelosi know all these things.
The truth is that the Senate bill, written by Nevada
Senator Harry Reid and passed by the Senate, is the most
massive piece of abortion legislation since Roe v. Wade
was handed down. It represents a dramatic departure
from the long standing, widely accepted policy of not
covering abortion with government funds.
How does the bill cover fund abortion? Let us count the
ways.
1. It will directly fund community health care
centers, of which Planned Parenthood would be a
beneficiary. $11 billion has been set aside for
community health care centers with no restrictions to
prevent abortion coverage.
Abortion advocates are already discussing how these
centers can pay for abortion.
2. The Reid bill will subsidize health care plans which
provide abortion for tens of millions of people.
Reid has tried to fool the public by saying that health insurers
are not required to pay for abortion. They may not be
required to do so, but they are NOT prohibited from
doing so.
3. The Reid bill contains an abortion mandate. At
least one subsidized health care plan in every area will
be required to cover abortion.
4. Enrollees in these government subsidized insurance
plans will be required to pay an abortion surcharge
whether or not they agree with abortion.
To the argument that people do not have to choose an
abortion covering plan, if the employer CHOOSES that
plan, youll take it or not have health care.
5. The Reid bill will give bureaucrats authority to
force health care plans to cover abortion. It does
not mandate that they do so, but it gives them the
authority. Its hard to see how a president like Barack
Obama, who opposed protections for children born during
an abortion (fourth trimester abortions) and promised
Planned Parenthood that abortion would be part of health
care, would not appoint someone to mandate abortion
coverage. The Mikulski amendment to the Reid bill would
require insurers to cover any preventative service. Look
for abortion to be defined as a preventative service and
private health care plans to be forced to cover
abortions.
6. The Reid bill allows states to opt out of abortion
covering plans, but even where that may happen,
residents of those states will still be required to pay
for abortions in other states.
7. There are other massive pools of money with no
abortion restrictions. National Right to Life says
that The Senate bill contains additional pools of
directly appropriated funds that are not covered by any
limitations regarding abortion, including $5 billion for
a temporary high-risk health insurance pool program
(Sec. 1101 on pages 45-52) and $6 billion in grants for
health co-ops (Sec. 1322, pp. 169-180).
8. The Senate bill would allow plans in the Federal
Employees Health Benefits program to cover abortion.
This too would be a dramatic departure from long standing widely
supported policy of not funding abortion with government
funds.
9. There is no restriction on abortion in the Indian
Health program.
10. Language in the Reid bill which would restrict
direct funding (not to be confused with subsidies) of
abortion would be attached to the status of the Hyde
amendment.
That is, if the Hyde amendment continues to be reauthorized every
year, those restrictions will remain in place. If the
Hyde bill banning funding of abortions through Medicare
were to go down in flames, those restrictions of direct
funding of abortion through health care will vanish.
Pro-lifers should also note that the bill does not
contain adequate conscience protections.
Make no mistake, the Senate bill that the House is now
considering will fund and subsidize abortion. Harry Reid
alone wrote the Senate bill, is responsible for the
abortion language and knows better than anyone that it
funds abortion. Reid, Obama and Pelosi all know this
despite their protestations to the contrary. They could
easily ensure that the long establish widely accepted
policy of the government not funding or subsidizing
abortion be maintained by inserting the Stupak amendment
which says, no funds authorized or appropriated by this
Act (or an amendment made by this Act) may be used to
pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs
of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion
except for rape, incest, the life of the mother or
physical injury or physical disorder.
Obama, Pelosi and Reid's insistence that this is not about
abortion, is not an abortion bill, that the status quo
on abortion will not change and that there will be no
funding of abortion shows a callous disregard for the
truth and open contempt for the public.
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