Undercover Call: Medicaid Would Pay 9K for Late-Term Abortion

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 12, 2011   |   4:18PM   |   Albuquerque, NM

An investigation conducted by two pro-life organizations has resulted in the release of an undercover call revealing how an abortion facility uses taxpayer funds via Medicaid to pay for late-term abortions.

Operation Rescue and Project Defending Life today released a short video containing excerpts from an undercover recording showing that Medicaid pays not only for abortions, but completely covers third-trimester abortions for no medical reason. The caller identified herself as having a healthy pregnancy in the 26th week of gestation to a an employee named Sue working at the Southwestern Women’s Options abortion center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The calls says the reason she wanted an abortion was because her husband had just lost his job, saying it was a “personal thing” as to why she wanted the abortion and confirming to the employee that there is no medical problem with the unborn baby at the time.

“Our clinic will actually do an elective procedure up until about 28 weeks,” he abortion facility employee tells the caller.

After confirming with the caller that she has “the pregnancy Medicaid,” the abortion clinic worker says “Medicaid covers the abortion in the state of New Mexico. Yeah, so if you have the, you know if you’re current on Medicaid for October, yeah yeah, it would cover the abortion.”

“Alright so I don’t have to worry about that if my Medicaid is current,” the caller asks. The worker responds: “Right, correct. yeah, as long as you have the presumptive or the pregnancy related or full benefits. The Family Planning is the only Medicaid that does not cover the abortion.”

Mew Mexico is one of 15 states where Medicaid currently pays for abortions, including Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, new Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. For example, California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, paid out over $23.6 million to cover abortions in 2007 alone

The undercover caller phoned abortion clinics in 12 of those states and in every case was told that Medicaid would pay for abortions.

“It’s shocking that our tax dollars would pay $9,000 for a third-trimester abortion simply because of a lost job. The vast majority of the American people strongly object to their tax money being used in this way,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“Medicaid is a joint government program that is funded completely by tax dollars. Up to fifty percent of the money comes from state taxes and the rest comes from the Federal tax coffers, depending on the state’s poverty level,” Newman explained. “Federal Medicaid funds are not supposed to cover abortions, but do so in the cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, exceptions that have been exploited in the past to include more abortions. But it is State money that generally funds abortions to the tune of millions of dollars annually.”

Abortion clinics are well aware of Medicaid funding and jump at the chance to use it. One abortion fund website coaches women how to obtain free abortions through Medicaid and the number one way is to go through the abortion clinic for assistance.

“If we are serious about stopping tax-funded abortions, then we need end it in every government program at the State and Federal levels,” said Newman. “We encourage everyone to contact their U.S. Congressman this week and demand a complete end to publicly funded abortions.”