Politifact Verifies Obama Statements Make Abortion in Health Care Bill Likely
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 14, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Another independent fact-checking web site has verified that pro-life advocates are right when they say the health care bills President Barack Obama supporters will result in abortion funding. This time, Politifact says Republican leader John Boehner is correct in his assertions.
On Thursday, Boehner issued a press release noting Obama’s 2007 appearance before the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
There, Obama said "reproductive care" would be "at the heart" of his health plan and that his public plan "will provide all essential services, including reproductive services" — all code for abortion funding.
"During his quest for the presidency, now-President Obama declared that everyone deserves access to reproductive health care that includes abortion, and vowed that this ‘right’ would be at the heart of his health care reform plan if elected president," Boehner said.
Politifact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning web site that is a project of the St. Petersburg Times newspaper in Florida scrutinizes the assertions of politicians and political groups. In a new analysis, it says Boehner is right on track and his statements are true.
"There’s never been any question that Obama favors abortion rights," the web site notes. "But he has been somewhat more coy, or perhaps strategically fuzzy, about exactly where he would draw the line on federal funding for abortion in his own health care plan."
"[W]e think then-candidate Obama did say something that closely matches what Boehner says he did," it continued.
PolitiFact cites a story that ran in the Chicago Tribune on July 18, 2007, the day after Obama’s Planned Parenthood speech.
Washington bureau reporter Mike Dorning wrote that when Obama was asked about his proposal for expanded access to health insurance, the candidate "said it would cover ‘reproductive health services.’ Contacted afterward, an Obama spokesman said that included abortions."
Another source PolitiFact cites is a candidate questionnaire by RH Reality Check in which the Obama campaign said Obama favors taxpayer-funding of abortions.
"Both of these comments suggest, fairly strongly, that Obama would include access to abortion in his health care plan," the web site notes.
The nonpartisan site concluded: "The record shows that Obama did indeed make those statements. His message to the abortion rights group may have been deliberately fuzzy, but it’s clear what he meant — and it was confirmed by the campaign to the Tribune reporter. We find Boehner’s claim to be True."
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