Obama Admin Approves Second Set of Abortion Funding Under Health Care Law
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 14, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The day after revelations that the Obama administration allowed federal taxpayer funding of abortions under the new national health care law that was supposed to prevent it, new information shows President Barack Obama has authorized abortion funding in a second state.
The first abortion funding had the Obama administration approve a Pennsylvania plan calling for the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions for virtually any reason through a new high risk insurance program created by the national health care law.
Now, the National Right to Life Committee, which uncovered the first case of abortion funding, has dug up a second set — in New Mexico.
NRLC legislative director Douglas Johnson informed LifeNews.com of the first set and spoke with Kathryn Lopez of National Review about the abortion funding in the western state.
He said New Mexico state officials have put together a new $37 million high-risk pool that will begin enrolling members on July 1 and they will begin receiving benefits August 1 — including federal funding for elective abortions according to the state insurance department’s website. After the insured pays the deductible, taxpayer dollars from the federal government cover the remaining 80 percent.
"HHS has been hiding most of these high-risk plans, including the plan that HHS will administer directly in 21 states. Of the four state plans we’ve managed to ferret out, two provided coverage of essentially all abortions — Pennsylvania and New Mexico," Johnson told National Review.
"This is part of a pattern, under this administration, of making ‘soft’ rhetorical statements on abortion policy, but consistently promoting and expanding abortion through low-visibility administrative decisions. The administration’s heavy funding of groups pushing a proposed new pro-abortion constitution in Kenya is another example," Johnson added.
House minority leader John Boehner also sent a statement to National Review about the New Mexico funding.
"In just the past 24 hours, we’ve learned of two states in which the new federal high-risk insurance programs created under Obamacare and approved by the Obama administration will use federal funds to pay for abortion, despite promises by the White House and Democratic leaders that no such funding would occur under Obamacare," he said.
"These developments provide stark confirmation that President Obama’s executive order last spring was little more than a political ploy to ensure passage of Obamacare by circumventing the will of the American people, who are clearly opposed to taxpayer-funded abortion," the Republican leader added.
Lopez, of National Review, opined on the situation and urged voters to hold accountable in November those lawmakers who voted for the pro-abortion health care plan.
"The Obama administration lied, and members of Congress who claim to be pro-life went along with the sham. There should, indeed, be electoral consequences," she said.
Related web sites:
National Right to Life – https://www.nrlc.org
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