Key Points on Pro-Abortion Provisions in Obama-Backed Health Care Bills

NRL News
Page 21
October 2009
Volume 36
Issue 10

Key Points on Pro-Abortion Provisions in
Obama-Backed Health Care Bills

• Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have approved health care restructuring bills that would create big new federal programs: (1) a national health insurance program that would be run entirely by the federal government (called the “public plan” or “public option”); and (2) a program to provide tax-funded subsidies to help tens of millions of Americans buy health insurance. These new programs would cover elective abortion, which would be a sharp break from current federal policy.

• Abortion is explicitly mentioned 17 times in the current House bill (H.R. 3200). On July 30, 2009, the Democrat-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee added to H.R. 3200 an amendment written under the direction of Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Ca.) and offered by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Ca.), both of whom have consistently pro-abortion career voting records. This “phony compromise” amendment explicitly authorizes the “public plan” to cover all abortions. This means that any citizen who wants to take advantage of the public plan would be compelled to purchase coverage for elective abortion. Furthermore, the Capps Amendment explicitly requires the federal agency to raise every enrollee’s premium by an amount sufficient to pay for all the abortions paid for by the agency. So: a federal agency would collect the premium money (which, once collected, are federal funds), and would receive bills from abortionists, who would be paid with checks drawn on a federal Treasury account. This would clearly be federal government funding of abortion. The federal government would be running a nationwide insurance plan covering abortion on demand.

• As the independent FactCheck.org reported in an August 21, 2009, analysis, “Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.” FactCheck.org also wrote: “Obama has said in the past that ‘reproductive services’ would be covered by his public plan, so it’s likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that. Low- and moderate-income persons who would choose the ‘public plan’ would qualify for federal subsidies to purchase it. Private plans that cover abortion also could be purchased with the help of federal subsidies.”

• The abortion coverage would not be optional—no citizen would be allowed to enroll in the federal insurance program without paying the abortion surcharge. As Time magazine accurately reported (August 24, 2009), “The problem is that all those who sign up for the public option would have to pay into the account for abortion coverage, an amount ‘not less than $1 per month,’ according to the legislation. So in effect, anyone who wanted to sign up for the public option, a federally funded and administered program, would find themselves paying for abortion coverage.”

• The current “Hyde Amendment” law would not apply to the public plan, or to the premium subsidy programs created by the House and Senate bills. The Hyde Amendment is a law that must be renewed annually, and it applies only to monies that are appropriated through the annual appropriations bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services (which includes, for example, the current Medicaid program). The proposed “public plan” and premium subsidy programs would be funded through other legislative pipelines, and the Hyde Amendment would not apply to these new programs. As the Associated Press accurately reported in its August 5, 2009, analysis, “A law called the Hyde amendment applies the [abortion] restrictions to Medicaid. ... [But] The health overhaul would create a stream of federal funding not covered by the restrictions.” NRLC has issued a technical memorandum that documents this in detail.

• The proposed provisions are a radical departure from the status quo. Currently, the federal government does not pay into any health plans that cover elective abortion. Time magazine reported (August 24, 2009), “The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the Federal Government’s role in the financing of abortions.”

• In three House committees, pro-abortion Democratic committee chairmen and majorities, allied with the White House, rejected amendments to prevent federal subsidies from going to health plans that cover elective abortion.

• Bills produced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee (S. 1679) and the Senate Finance Committee (as yet unnumbered) also contain provisions that violate the principles of the Hyde Amendment. Both committees rejected amendments to prohibit federal subsidies for elective abortion and elective abortion coverage. Both Senate bills also contain additional objectionable provisions. For example, under S. 1679, both the “public plan” and, in time, most private insurance plans, would be required to cover all “essential benefits.” These must include (but are not limited to) ambulatory patient services, hospitalization, and preventive services. Under numerous past federal court decisions, such broad categories will include elective abortion unless Congress adds an explicit exclusion for abortion—but the HELP Committee rejected such an exclusion. Thus, under S. 1679, many private health plans would be required to pay for and to provide local access to abortion, and many state laws that regulate abortion could be invalidated.

For additional information and documentation, or for an up-to-date report on the status of this legislation, go to http://nrlactioncenter.com or http://www.nrlc.org/AHC/Index.html

[Date of this document: October 6, 2009]