Review: Obama Admin Would Have Funded Abortions in HCR Without Expose’

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 19, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Review: Obama Admin Would Have Funded Abortions in HCR Without Expose’

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 19
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Last week, 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 last week’s back and forth with LifeNews.com today.

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.

He told LifeNews.com that last week’s abortion funding row was just the beginning.

"The available evidence indicates that the Obama Administration bureaucrats had no intention whatever to impede the funding of abortions through the new federal program to establish high-risk insurance pools — until NRLC sounded the alarm and put the spotlight on what they were up to," he said.

"Regrettably, there are many other programs and authorities in the 2,000-page health care law that will provide the Obama Administration with additional opportunities to expand abortion — and we can expect that they will try to do so, particularly when they think they can accomplish something under the public’s radar," Johnson continued.

He agreed with the nation’s Catholic bishops and other pro-life organization that repeated their call for a federal law preventing abortion funding under the new health care program and saying that is the only way to prevent it in a foolproof manner.

"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.