Analysis: Obama Plan Increases Abortion Funding Via Community Health Centers

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 22, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Analysis: Obama Plan Increases Abortion Funding Via Community Health Centers

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 22
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The initial analysis of the new health care plan President Barack Obama released finds it does nothing to stop the massive abortion funding under the Senate health care bill. Now, a leading pro-life group has released additional research showing the Obama plan actually increases abortion funding.

In the manager’s amendment Senate Leader Harry Reid added to the Senate health care bill, HR 3590, a little noticed provision allowed $7 billion in funding for Community Health Centers buried deep in Section 10503 of the 383-page amendment.

Pro-life groups already condemned the provision because the money could be funneled to abortion businesses to pay for abortions and will not be subject to provisions like the Hyde Amendment that stops abortion funding.

Now, officials at the National Right to Life Committee say Obama "actually proposes to increase the funds that would be available to directly subsidize abortion procedures (through Community Health Centers)."

Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, explains that Obama’s plan would also "subsidize private health insurance that covers abortion (through the premium-subsidy tax credits program)."

"If all of the President’s changes were made, the resulting legislation would allow direct federal funding of abortion on demand through Community Health Centers, would institute federal subsidies for private health plans that cover abortion on demand (including some federally administered plans), and would authorize federal mandates that would require even non-subsidized private plans to cover elective abortion," he tells LifeNews.com today.

The Obama plan proposes increasing the $7 billion for community health centers to $11 billion without any restriction on the use of these federal funds to pay directly for abortions.

"Two pro-abortion groups, the Reproductive Health Access Project and the Abortion Access Project, are already actively campaigning for Community Health Centers to perform elective abortions. In short, the Senate bill would allow direct federal funding of abortion on demand through Community Health Centers," Johnson says.

Johnson told LifeNews.com that the expansion of abortion funding only makes it more difficult for pro-life Democrats in the House to support the Senate bill.

"For pro-life Democrats, President Obama’s proposal only makes matters worse," he says.

Referring to Section 330 of the Public Health Services Act, NRLC says federal law says Community Health Centers can only use Section 330 funds "for purposes within the scope of their grants, but one can assume that grant applications that included (for example) ‘reproductive services’ would not be deemed objectionable under the Obama Administration, and abortions could be subsumed under various other classifications as well."

Right to Life says the concern is not a hypothetical one.

NRLC points out that the there is already an organized effort underway by the Reproductive Health Access Project to encourage Community Health Centers to perform abortions, “as an integrated part of primary health care.”

National Right to Life says the inclusion of the funding for CHCs with no abortion limitations presents another reason why the final health care bill must contain the Stupak amendment to truly ban abortion funding.

Related web sites:
National Right to Life Committee – https://www.NRLC.org

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