Republicans Introduce Bill to Repeal Pro-Abortion Health Care Law Obama Signed
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 28, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — House Republicans have introduced a bill designed to repeal the government-run health care system President Barack Obama put into place that includes massive abortion funding. The measure would repeal the law and replace it with an alternative GOP lawmakers support to improve the current system.
Although pro-abortion Speaker Nancy Pelosi would likely never allow hearings and a vote on the measure, Republicans say it helps them frame the health care debate heading into the November elections.
Rep. Roy Blunt, a pro-life Republican leader from Missouri, says the bill is needed because polling data shows Americans increasingly opposing the pro-abortion health care law.
“As unpopular as this healthcare bill is today, it’s at the height of its popularity,” Blunt said, according to The Hill. “The more the American people know about it, the more concerns they are going to have, and the more they are going to look at alternatives.”
In total, 20 Republican lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of the repeal legislation including pro-life House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, pro-life Majority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, and pro-life GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana.
Rep. Wally Herger, a pro-life Republican from California who is the top GOP member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Healthcare, is the official sponsor of the legislation given his committee position.
Herger spokesman Matt Lavoie told The Hill the bill "would prevent an insurance company from denying new coverage to someone with prior coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition. So if you lose the health insurance because you lose your job, move, get divorced or just want to change plans, you are protected."
Under the health care bill Obama signed, there is no ban on abortion funding. While some states can opt out of funding abortions under the plan, taxpayers in other states will be forced to pay for them.
But the bill contains other pro-abortion problems that are concerns for pro-life advocates.
The bill requires that at least one health care plan be promoted across the country that pays for abortions, more abortion funding would come via the affordability credits, and many of the so-called limits on abortion funding in the Senate bill are temporary and could expire or be overturned at a later date.
The Obama law also pays for abortions under the Indian Health Service program.
And it contains the Mikulski amendment that would allow the Obama administration to define abortion as preventative care and force insurance plans to pay for abortions.
Finally, the Senate bill does not contain language needed to offer full conscience protection for pro-life medical workers and facilities.
Obama signed an executive order that supposedly negates the abortion funding, but pro-life groups say it is meaningless because it essentially just spells out the abortion funding provisions in the health care law and has no force of law.
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