As states roll out their newly mandated high-risk pools under ObamaCare, a troubling trend is emerging. Pennsylvania and Maryland released documents on their state websites earlier this summer that implied their plans would cover elective abortions. Additionally, New Mexico posted a draft summary of its high-risk pool services that listed elective abortion as among its covered services. The initial reaction from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the White House was complete silence. It was not until the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) called out …
A new report from the General Accounting Office that was released on Capitol Hill last week has found that more than $1 billion in federal funds were expended from 2002-2009 by six controversial nonprofits, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the Population Council, and the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States. The first two of these nonprofits received more than $941 million of this total, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation received another $3.9 million. The GAO notes that these amounts likely understate the federal …
A Seattle area mother is distraught because a school-based clinic at her daughter’s high school arranged for the girl to have an abortion, even providing a taxicab to the clinic, without notice to her parents. A spokesman for the King County Health Department summarized the situation simply when he commented, “At any age in the state of Washington, an individual can consent to a termination of pregnancy.” Washington is one of a handful of states that do not have a parental notice or consent law, according to Americans United for …
In the final hours before the passage of Obamacare, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and his like-minded Democratic colleagues announced that they would vote for the legislation after President Barack Obama agreed to sign an executive order purporting to prevent the federal government from funding abortions. But one of the problem’s with this approach is that the President isn’t bound to preserve the executive order for any length of time. The President could wake up the day after signing this executive order and rescind it. Stupak himself acknowledged this in an interview with …
As the beneficiary of 16 years of Catholic education, eight of them under the tutelage of the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati, I am inclined by habit to nod in swift concurrence whenever the good sisters speak. Not today. A letter released yesterday by 60 leaders of Catholic women’s religious orders argues that the Senate-passed version of health care reform does not provide for funding of elective abortion and is thus the “REAL [capitalization in original] pro-life” option. The Catholic bishops, the non-sectarian National Right to Life Committee and, this …
A piecrust promise is one that is easily made and easily broken. The promise – more a rumor than anything else – that the U.S. Senate will use the reconciliation process to adopt a strong ban on abortion funding if the House passes the Senate-approved bill is flakier than most. Never before in the history of the 34-year abortion funding debate have pro-life members of Congress approved a bill containing abortion funding on the promise that a subsequent vote will fix the problem. The scenario being discussed in the media …
Senate Cloakroom: Analysis: The Senate returns this week after a three-week absence. In the wake of passing an unpopular health care bill, the Senators must now contend with another unpopular issue – increasing the nation’s debt limit by nearly $1 trillion. The debate, which is expected to last into next week, will highlight our looming entitlement crisis, excessive spending and the increasingly aggressive involvement of government in our economy. Major Floor Action: A vote on Beverly Martin to be a US Circuit Court judge will kick off what is likely …
The Nelson-Reid agreement on abortion is not the only source of taxpayer funding for abortion. An obscure addition to the Senate version of health care reform that was adopted on Christmas Eve is a gift package with unexpected contents: even more taxpayer funding of elective abortions. According to a new analysis just released by National Right to Life Committee legislative director Doug Johnson, Sec. 10503 of the Reid “Manager’s Amendment” to H.R. 3590 directly appropriates funds for community health centers (CHCs). These funds would not be covered by the annual …
In a Christmas Eve vote, the American people watched a U.S. Senator betray his pro-life principles for $100 million. The version of Obamacare that passed the Senate is the one to watch—it changes current law and allows taxpayer dollars to fund plans that cover elective abortions for the first time in years—and with the hair’s-width margin by which it passed, it may well emerge from the negotiations between the House and the Senate. The only thing that stands between Americans and a law forcing them to fund abortion coverage against …
There are at least six key differences that need to be resolved before the House and Senate can cut a deal, in secret, to pass Obamacare. Maybe the most difficult issue to resolve is the issue of using federal tax dollars to fund abortion. It seems clear, from a reading of the House- and Senate-passed health care bills, that their positions on the federal funding of abortion are at odds and will be difficult to reconcile. During the House debate, an amendment was added by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) (the …
