Planned Parenthood Says Pro-Lifers Winning, Misleads on Insurance, Abortion

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 30, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Planned Parenthood Says Pro-Lifers Winning, Misleads on Insurance, Abortion

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 30
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — With a Senate committee voting today against an amendment to cut off taxpayer funding of abortions, the president of Planned Parenthood should have been giddy with excitement. Instead, she attacked pro-life advocates, said they are generating more calls to Congress, and then misled about insurance an abortion.

In an email this afternoon to her group’s supporters, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards complained that pro-life groups are doing more to generate calls and emails to Congress than her group.

"Opponents of health care reform — and especially those fighting against women’s health — have been well-funded, loud, and aggressive," she claims. "That’s what we’ve all witnessed, but what really worries me is what’s been going on behind the scenes."

"Make no mistake — Planned Parenthood has been working with legislators day and night," she continues. "But when it comes to hearing from regular people, the contact with voters that matters most to members of Congress, we’re getting out-hustled, outnumbered, and just plain drowned out."

"Even though you may already have called, e-mailed, or written your senators — we need you to do it again," she pleaded with her fellow abortion advocates.

Richards is so desperate to generate calls to Congress that she is asking donors to sign up for a text message that will walk them through how to phone elected officials.

"You know as well as I do that our opponents are riled up and extremely motivated," she admitted. "They won’t let up until the final vote is cast — so we can’t, either."

For Richards, apparently asking abortion advocates to make calls and fire off emails isn’t enough — she felt compelled to mislead her readers about the amendments pro-life advocates seek to stop abortion funding.

She said pro-life advocates want it so "health care reform could prohibit private insurance companies from covering abortion care — even those that currently do so."

"Anti-choice extremists aren’t just trying to deny uninsured women access to reproductive care — they’re fighting to make sure that women whose private plans currently cover abortion care lose their access as well," Richards says.

However, that claim is untrue.

As Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council explained today, the Hatch amendment the Senate committee defeated was contrary to claims from pro-abortion groups.

"While Senator Hatch’s abortion funding amendment would keep government federal funds from paying for abortion or plans that cover abortion, it clearly stated that it would not prevent women from obtaining their own separate abortion policies if they choose to do so," he told LifeNews.com.

"It’s unfortunate that Democrats on this committee, other than Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), and Republican Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), aren’t satisfied with giving women the choice to pay for abortion coverage," he said. "Instead, these Senators want to require the federal government to subsidize health plans that cover elective abortion."

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