House Members Slam Obama Admin’s Promise to Not Fund Abortion in Health Care
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 23, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A group of 21 hardcore pro-abortion members of the House sent a letter to Obama administration officials today complaining about its promise not to fund abortions in the new high risk health insurance programs created under the national health care plan President Barack Obama signed.
As LifeNews.com has reported, the National Right to Life Committee uncovered plans by the Obama administration and state officials to fund abortions in the programs.
The abortion funding would have taken place in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Maryland and potentially other states. Responding to NRLC’s whistleblowing, HHS officials promised no abortion funding would occur — although no law or administration rules have been implemented to do that.
Now, some of the most ardent abortion proponents are complaining because they want abortion funding guaranteed.
In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the lawmakers argue the Obama administration should be working “to expand women’s access to care, and not narrow the scope of care available.”
“We are concerned that limiting the range of services that women can access will affect how women and their physicians make private medical decisions,” the lawmakers wrote. “Women with pre-existing conditions may be in medically vulnerable positions, when health considerations and life considerations are most intertwined and complicated.”
"We are concemed that limiting the range of services that women can access will affect how women and their physicians make private medical decisions," they add.
Although the letter implies women would not have the ability to obtain an abortion in a life-threatening situation, should the Obama administration implement prohibitions on abortion funding in the program, it has promised to abide by the Hyde amendment, which bans most all abortion funding but allows for very rare cases in which a woman might somehow need an abortion to save her life.
"We are eager to work with you as implementation of health reform moves forward to expand women’s access to health care and a full range of reproductive and preventative health services," the letter concludes.
Rep. Louise Slaughter, a pro-abortion New York lawmaker, organized the letter.
Other signers include Reps. Paul Hodes, Diana DeGette, Rosa DeLauro, John Hall, Susan Davis, Diane Watson, Dina Titus, Sam Farr and Tammy Baldwin.
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