Opposition to Obama’s Pro-Abortion Health Care Law Hits New High in Poll
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 2, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Opposition to the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law has reached new heights, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll. The results come after a pro-life group exposed the way in which the new law would fund abortions in high risk insurance polls.
The Obama administration eventually backed down after the National Right to Life Committee exposed the funding in three states and it promised no funding would occur in the polls the new law created.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds 57 percent of likely voters say the recently-passed health care law will be bad for the country. Thirty-two percent say the health care plan will be good for the United States.
Prior to this survey, belief that the plan is good for the country ranged from 34% to 41%, while those who predict it will be bad for the country range from 49% to 54%.
"That’s the highest level of pessimism measured since regular tracking began following Congress’ passage of the law in late March," Rasmussen noted. "Voter pessimism towards the new national health care bill has reached an all-time high."
Fifty-nine percent of all voters now favor repeal of the health care bill compared to 38 percent who oppose repealing it. These findings include 45% who strongly favor repeal and 28 percent who strongly oppose it. Support for repeal has ranged from 52% to 63%, while opposition has ranged from 32% to 42%.
Most Republicans and unaffiliated voters continue to strongly favor repeal of the health care bill and believe it will be bad for the country. Democrats, on the other hand, have remained supportive of the bill and feel it will be positive for the country, Rasmussen noted.
The Obama administration came under heavy fire from a pro-life group that discovered, in three states, officials had approved paying for abortions under new high risk insurance programs created under the national health care law President Barack Obama signed.
The National Right to Life Committee exposed the abortion funding and the Obama administration responded at first by claiming the executive order Obama signed prohibits the funding NRLC uncovered.
Then, Obama officials revised the statement to say they promised the high risk insurance programs would not fund abortions in Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Maryland or any other states.
Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee who uncovered the abortion funding, reviewed the back and forth.
He said the dustup proves the point his organization and other pro-life groups made that the health care bill funded abortions, the executive order was insufficient to prevent that, abortion funding would have happened without NRLC exposing it, and the public will have to take the Obama administration at its word that abortion funding will not occur in the future.
"First, the assurances that were offered in March by certain congressional Democrats, and by their guardians among the interest groups, that the final health care bill contained adequate pro-life safeguards, were patently false. All the major pro-abortion groups are now openly proclaiming what National Right to Life said all along — neither the law Obama signed, nor his executive order on abortion, prohibit federal funding of abortion in the high-risk program," Johnson explained.
"In fact, the executive order only addressed two specific provisions of the 2,000-page health care law — and it does not resolve even those two provisions in a satisfactory manner," Johnson added.
"We will have to wait to see what formal action HHS actually takes with respect to abortion and the high-risk insurance program. What they say they will do does not necessarily equate with what they actually do," Johnson concluded.
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
