Pro-Abortion Groups Ramp Up Efforts to Keep Abortion in Health Care Reform Bill

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 1, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Pro-Abortion Groups Ramp Up Efforts to Keep Abortion in Health Care Reform Bill

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 1
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Two major pro-abortion groups are ramping up their efforts to keep abortion coverage in the health care reform bill the Senate Finance committee is crafting. Both Planned Parenthood and NARAL, without ever using the term abortion, asked their members this morning to call to keep it in place.

As Congress considers various bills to restructure the health care system, pro-life advocates are asking that specific language be included to exclude abortion.

They say that, without such language making it clear that abortions are not covered in the government-run health care or paid for with taxpayer dollars, that the federal government or courts could include abortions.

With flowery language claiming women would lose access to "reproductive health care," Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards urged her troops to blast the Senate with calls and emails demanding abortion coverage and funding.

"We’ve feared all along that women and their reproductive health care could be the first to go when push comes to shove in health care reform," she says.

As if pro-life lawmakers are somehow standing in the way of prenatal care, pap smears, or access to an OBGYN, Richards adds, "As I write this, the Republican leadership on the Senate Finance Committee is demanding health care reform language that will take away access to women’s comprehensive reproductive health services. We simply can’t let that happen."

Richards never mentions abortion when she says, "At a time when our leaders should be focused on expanding health care coverage, they are talking about taking benefits away from women. The Republican leadership on the Senate Finance Committee is demanding a provision that will result in a drastic change to the benefits that many of us have now; and, of course, the hundreds of thousands of women who are not covered now will still be left out in the cold."

NARAL’s Nancy Keenan is less deceptive in her own email to her pro-abortion forces.

"Unless we act now, the Senate could ban reproductive-health services from being covered in the new health-care system. Millions of women could lose coverage for abortion," she says. "We need your help to convince senators on the Finance Committee to stand up against this divisive anti-choice attack."

Keenan goes on to say that abortion advocates need to contact the Senate Finance Committee before it takes up the bill next week so abortion and tax-funded abortions remain a possibility under the health care reform bill it is considering.

ACTION: Contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and urge strong support for any amendments to stop abortion coverage or taxpayer-funded abortions in the health care plan. Call 202-224-3121 or go to https://www.Senate.gov for contact information. Find a list of the committee members at https://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm

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