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Press Release
Abortion Funding
Is In Health Care Reform Bills. Hyde Amendment Won’t Stop
It.
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Hyde
Amendment’s federal funding ban applies to HHS and
Medicaid only.
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Media reports abortion in bill-AP, TIME, Washington
Times, Factcheck.org etc.
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All
amendments to exclude abortion have been defeated.
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Obama & abortion rights advocates said bill would
include abortion.
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Court precedent will make abortion an essential benefit
if Congress doesn’t exclude abortion.
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Abortion rights Democrats say abortion is in bill. Capps
amendment uses abortion 16 times.
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Will
result in largest increase in abortion since Roe v. Wade
if abortion not excluded.
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Pro-life Harry Reid says he could support health care
plan funding abortion.
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 3, 2009
Contact
Don Nelson, Nevada LIFE, 775-530-0029
The following statement can
be attributed to Nevada LIFE President Don Nelson:
President Obama and other
abortion supporters are accusing pro-life advocates of
“bearing false witness,” “lying” and spreading
“misinformation” for claiming that the health care reform
bills in Congress include and fund abortion.
Others have falsely reported
that the Hyde Amendment will stop abortions from being
covered through any health care reform bill. Abortion is
in the health care reform bills and unless explicitly
excluded, will result in the largest increase in abortion
since Roe v. Wade.
1. The Hyde Amendment is a
yearly patch and applies only to funding through health
and human services and covers Medicaid.
Other prohibitions, like the ban on federal funding for
federal employees, the military, Indian health care and
others, are covered by separate amendments. The Hyde
amendment will continue to be necessary, but will not stop
funding through health care reform. It will fund these
plans directly, just as the
AP reported August 5, 2009, the "health overhaul would
create a stream of federal funding not covered by the
[Hyde] restrictions.”
2. Various media have reported
that abortion is in the bill including the AP, TIME,
Factcheck.org, The Washington Times and more.
The AP says "health overhaul would create a stream of
federal funding not covered by the [Hyde] restrictions.
TIME reports “The health-care reform proposed by House
Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant
change in the Federal Government's role in the financing
of abortions.”
FactCheck.org says, "Despite what Obama said, the
House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a
federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans."
3. House and Senate committees
have rejected all amendments to explicitly exclude
abortion.
4. President Obama says
abortion will be central to health care.
Obama told Planned
Parenthood that "reproductive care is essential care,
basic care, so it is at the center, the heart of the plan
I propose." Private insurers will "have to abide by the
same rules in terms of providing comprehensive care,
including reproductive care..."
Obama will appoint members to
a “health choices commission” and appoint a “health
choices commissioner” to declare abortion as an “essential
benefit.”
5. Court precedent indicates
that unless abortion is explicitly excluded as an
essential benefit, the Courts will interpret the broadly
worded mandatory categories of coverage to include
abortion.
6.
Abortion supporting legislators
also say abortion is in the bill.
Abortion rights supporting
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren says abortion is in the bill
and should be. Lois Capps wrote it into the House bill
using the word abortion sixteen times.
Senator Mikulski said the Senate bill “would include
women's health clinics that provide comprehensive
services…. It would provide for any service deemed
medically necessary or medically appropriate.”
Medically appropriate means “anything a doctor
and a woman construe to be in her best interest, whether
prenatal care or abortion.”
7. Many of the people calling
pro-lifers liars have previously said that abortion was in
the bill or that the bill would be a good way to get
abortion covered.
Congressman Chris Smith's dear colleague letter, "Abortion
Advocates Say Health Care Restructuring Covers Abortion,"
quotes these abortion advocates. (The Obama Administration
says “reproductive services” includes abortion).
NARAL Pro-Choice's Nancy Keenan
"if, indeed we can advance a panel or commission, then I
am very optimistic about reproductive health care being
part of this entire package."
Planned Parenthood's Cecil Richards: "I think the
big picture here is how do we make sure that all women and
families, regardless of their income, can get access to
the full range of health care options, and I think health
care reform is going to provide a platform for doing
that."
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice's Carlton
W. Veazey, "Let there be no mistake, basic healthcare
includes abortion services." See Smith's letter for more
quotes.
These same advocates are now accusing opponents of
taxpayer funding of abortion of lying because they have
run afoul of the American people-71
percent oppose federal funding of abortion and
forcing health care plans to cover abortion.
Opponents of taxpayer funding are being called liars for
taking the words of our opponents seriously.
8. Senator Harry Reid claims to
be pro-life
but says “he could” support
a national health care
bill that provided coverage for abortion.
Reid knows this bill supports abortion and his support for
a bill that would lead to the largest increase of
abortions since Roe v. Wade destroys any
credibility to Reid’s claims to be pro-life.
Abortion is in the health care
reform bills and the Hyde Amendment won’t stop it.
It’s time for the President of the United States and
abortion advocates to stop calling their opponents liars
for taking their own words seriously. President Obama and
abortion advocates could solidify their claims that
abortion will not be covered by the bill by supporting an
amendment to exclude it. Unless abortion is explicitly
excluded from health care reform, it will lead to the
largest increase of abortions since Roe v. Wade and
reverse the decades' long progress in reducing abortion.
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