President Obama Again Violates No Abortion Funds Pledge by Backing Senate Bill

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 7, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

President Obama Again Violates No Abortion Funds Pledge by Backing Senate Bill

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 7
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — President Barack Obama told the American people in a national speech in September that "my" health care plan would not include taxpayer funding of abortion. Obama broke that pledge once by lobbying members of the House to support a pro-abortion funding bill and he did it again this weekend in the Senate.

Obama met with Senate Democrats in a closed door session on Sunday and told them to support the Harry Reid-sponsored bill that includes massive abortion funding and could force insurance companies to cover abortions with taxpayer’s premiums.

Although the media wasn’t allowed into the event, senators described the speech as one in which Obama asked them for their votes for the bill and said voting for the legislation was a historic opportunity.

“It would be very hard to have listened to the president’s presentation and not have been persuaded of the historic importance of what’s being discussed here,’’ Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, said after the address. “It was a powerful speech.’’

Obama did not take questions during the event, but if he did, and if pro-life groups were present, they would have asked him why he is violating his pledge again that the health care reform bill he supports would not fund abortions.

Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews.com that Obama has repeatedly violated "his September 9 pledge to Congress that ‘under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions,’" and said "Americans now know that his televised pledge was a political hoax."

"The Reid health bill, which Obama supports, explicitly authorizes a huge new federal government insurance program to pay for abortion on demand," Johnson confirmed.

Moreover, "The president and his appointees are actively working against the pro-life amendment, already adopted by the House, that would really prevent federal government subsidies for abortion," Johnson added.

During his health care reform speech in September, Obama attempted to refute claims that he would support a pro-abortion health care bill.

Obama said "One more misunderstanding I want to clear up — under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions."

His comments came after his top spokesman misled reporters twice by falsely claiming the Hyde amendment would stop abortion funding in the bills.

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