Ohio Republicans Ask Gov. Strickland to Stop Abortion Funding in Health Care
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 19, 2010
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) — In the wake of a dustup last week that saw pro-life groups uncover how the Obama administration planned to fund abortions in new high risk health insurance programs created by the new federal health care program, Republicans in Ohio have asked Gov. Ted Strickland to make sure there is no funding.
Ohio’s Republican congressional delegate today wrote a letter to Strickland asking him to ensure Ohio does not go down the same road as Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Maryland.
The National Right to Life Committee uncovered how those three states planned to use federal taxpayer dollars for abortions, and now the Obama administration has promised that will not happen.
The signers acknowledged the new promise to make sure the high risk pools cover only abortions allowed under the Hyde Amendment.
However, since the amendment does not apply to the new health care program Obama signed into law, they asked for Strickland to make sure Ohio doesn’t fund abortions since their is no formal prohibition of it in place federally.
“We are urging you to assure Ohioans that the final plan our state will submit to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services will not include elective abortion as a taxpayer-funded benefit,” they write in the new letter, according to a report in The Hill.
Their letter went on to say: “Furthermore we respectfully request that you direct the Ohio Department of Insurance to thoroughly review its negotiations with the third-party provider your administration designated to run Ohio’s high-risk pool plan to ensure that the use of federal funds to perform abortions is clearly and definitively prohibited under any coverage.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner signed the letter along with Reps. Steven LaTourette, Patrick Tiberi, Jean Schmidt, Michael Turner, Jim Jordan, Robert Latta and Steve Austria, The Hill indicated.
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