Pennsylvania Bill Filed to Stop the Abortion Funding ObamaCare Nearly Allowed
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 4, 2010
Harrisburg, PA (LifeNews.com) — A Pennsylvania state legislator has proposed legislation seeking to stop the combined state and federal funding for abortions that almost occurred in the ObamaCare health care law President Barack Obama signed. The measure was used to allow abortion funding under the high risk health insurance pool.
The Obama administration, in concert with officials in three states, including Maryland and New Mexico, had approved paying for abortions under new high risk insurance programs created under the national health care law.
The National Right to Life Committee exposed the Pennsylvania 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.
Wanting to make sure the abortion funding doesn’t take place in his state, Republican Pennsylvania State Senator Don White introduced Senate Bill 1399 to prohibit insurance plans in the Keystone State from covering abortions with taxpayer funds.
Charlene Bashore, the legislative director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, told LifeNews.com her group strongly supports the legislation.
“We support Sen. White’s effort to ensure that Pennsylvania will continue its long tradition of making sure tax dollars are not used to pay for elective abortions in the Commonwealth," she said.
With the election season in full swing, the Pennsylvania legislature may have more votes to pass such a bill as it has other limits allowed by the Supreme Court on abortion that has helped the state lower its abortion totals over the years.
There is also a very similar bill being introduced in the House and other states may join Pennsylvania in considering similar bills as the various components of the ObamaCare law becoming going into effect between now and 2014.
With public sentiment running strongly against abortion funding, PPLF education director Maria Vitale told LifeNews.com, "Public opinion polls show that the vast majority of people do not want public dollars to pay for abortions. The public funding of abortion is a fatal flaw in Obamacare.”
Looking at the potential abortion funding pro-life advocates temporarily stopped, the Obama Administration planned to give Pennsylvania $160 million to set up the new "high-risk" insurance program.
It quietly approved a plan submitted by an appointee of pro-abortion Governor Edward Rendell under which the new program would have covered any abortion that is legal in Pennsylvania.
The high-risk pool program is one of the new programs created by the sweeping health care legislation, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Obama signed into law on March 23. The law authorizes $5 billion in federal funds for the program, which will cover as many as 400,000 people when it is implemented nationwide.
The abortion funding comes despite language in the bill that some pro-abortion Democrats and Obama himself claimed would prevent abortion funding and despite a controversial executive order Obama signed supposedly stopping abortion funding.
The pro-life community strongly opposed the executive order and said Rep. Bart Stupak and other House Democrats who voted for the pro-abortion health care bill in exchange for it were selling out their pro-life principles.
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