Louisiana House Moves Bill Ahead to Opt Out of Abortion Funding Under Health Care
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 15, 2010
Baton Rouge, LA (LifeNews.com) — The Louisiana state legislature is the latest to move ahead a bill that would opt the state out of paying for some of the abortion funding found under the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law. Yesterday, a Louisiana state House committee joined Tennessee legislators in advancing legislation.
The House Insurance committee passed HB 1247, authored by Rep. Frank Hoffman, by the margin of 8-1.
Benjamin Clapper, the executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, told LifeNews.com he’s glad to see the legislation receive approval.
"Yesterday was the first step to declaring in Louisiana that abortion is not health care," he said.
"HB 1247 not only opts Louisiana out of the abortion aspects of national health care reform, but it makes it illegal for a health insurance company to offer elective abortion as a benefit in Louisiana," he explained.
The legislation was vigorously opposed by Planned Parenthood and their legislative ally Juan LaFonta, a Democratic legislator from New Orleans who claimed during the vote that he is "not pro-life" and who is challenging pro-life Congressman Cao in November for the 2nd District seat in New Orleans.
The bill now heads to the House floor for a full vote. With 57 co-sponsors Clapper says he is confident the measure will pass easily. He expects the full House to vote for the measure next week.
Clapper told LifeNews.com after Obama signed the pro-abortion bill into law that pro-life lawmakers were working with pro-life Governor Bobby Jindal on the legislation.
"On Monday morning, before the President even signed the bill, we were on the phone with State Rep. Frank Hoffman discussing legislation that would opt Louisiana out of having to offer health care plans eligible for federal abortion subsidies," Clapper said.
Clapper also said he is working with the governor in what may be a two-pronged approach to mitigate as many of the abortion problems as possible.
"While this certainly does not solve all the problems of the health care bill, it at least takes a little of the sting off here at home," he said.
Related web sites:
Louisiana Right to Life – https://www.ProLifeLouisiana.org
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