Health Care Bills Could Result in 300-600K More Abortions, Scrap Pro-Life Laws
by Maria Vitale
August 18, 2009
LifeNews.com Note: Maria Vitale is an opinion columnist for LifeNews.com. She is the Public Relations Director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and Vitale has written and reported for various broadcast and print media outlets, including National Public Radio, CBS Radio, and AP Radio.
So-called health care reform could become the worst thing to happen to abortion rates since Roe v. Wade.
When you hear the phrase “health care reform,” you might think of cutting costs, eliminating arcane rules, and ensuring coverage for the hard-to-insure. Raising abortion rates would not seem to be a logical part of the equation.
Yet, consider this quote from one of the primary experts in abortion law, National Right to Life Legislative Director Douglas Johnson: “The Kennedy bill would result in the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.”
That’s because the Senate proposal would result in federally mandates coverage of abortion in nearly all health plans. The feds would also mandate recruitment of abortionists by local health networks—a scary thought. Abortion would be federally funded on a gargantuan scale.
We know from experience that taxpayer funding of abortion results in more abortions. It’s been estimated that the health care reform plans now on the table could increase abortions by 300,000 to 600,000 a year because of federal subsidies for abortion. The more lives that are sacrificed, the more trauma for families, the more pain for women, the more costs for society. So much for the “cost-cutting” aspects of health care reform.
The Senate plan could also mean the nullification of many state abortion laws. This is a critical point.
For instance, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the abortion rate was cut in half after the landmark Abortion Control Act went into effect. This ground-breaking law ensured parental consent, informed consent, and 24-hour waiting periods for abortion. Each life lost to abortion is undoubtedly a tragedy, yet, Pennsylvania has been able to save legions of its citizens through its protective abortion law.
Yet, such a law could be wiped out under the guise of health care reform. This is an insult to the citizens of the state, who, through their elected representatives, placed common sense curbs on abortion. If, for no other reason, in the interests of states’ rights, the Kennedy bill should be nixed.
Our founding fathers knew it was a mistake to place too much power in the hands of the federal government. Federal power comes from the will of the people, and it should not be abused, even in the name of health care reform. National public opinion polls consistently have shown that people don’t want their tax dollars to pay for abortions.
Abortion needs to be specifically excluded from health care reform, or else our money could be used to support the taking of innocent human lives and the emotional wounding of thousands of American women.
With health care reform, we are in the fight of our lives—and so are our preborn brothers and sisters.
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