National Right
to
Life
National Right to Life
Applauds U.S. House for Passing Bill to
Bar Discrimination Against Pro-Life Health Care Providers
WASHINGTON (Sept. 25, 2002) -- The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)
applauded today's strong vote in the U.S. House of Representatives approving the
Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 4691).
Rejecting opposition by NARAL and other pro-abortion advocacy groups, the
House passed the bill 229-189.
"The bill is needed because officials and courts in some states are forcing
health care providers to participate in abortions," said NRLC Legislative
Director Douglas Johnson. "Unfortunately, the Senate Democratic leadership will
probably kill this bill this year, just as they are killing the bill to ban
partial-birth abortions."
Increasingly in recent years, pro-abortion groups have been actively
engaged in a concerted campaign to coerce hospitals and other health care
providers, both religiously affiliated and secular, to provide, facilitate, or
pay for abortions. Typical of these efforts is the "Hospital Provider Project"
of the Maryland affiliate of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Action League (NARAL). As that organization explained, "The goal of the
Hospital Provider Project is to increase access to abortion services by
REQUIRING Maryland hospitals to provide abortion . . ." (capitals added for
emphasis)
In other examples cited in today's debate, the Alaska state supreme court
ruled that some community hospitals must perform late second-trimester abortions
against their will. A certificate of need was denied to a proposed outpatient
surgical center in Connecticut because it declined to perform abortions, after
abortion activists intervened in the proceedings. A hospital merger in New
Hampshire was undone when pro-abortion activists intervened with the state
attorney general. The City Council of St. Petersburg, Florida, forced a private
hospital to leave a non-profit consortium because the consortium followed a
pro-life policy.
To see how your
representative voted on the bill, see votes no. 15 and no. 16 in the NRLC
scorecard for the House of Representatives.
The National Right to Life Committee is the
nation's major pro-life organization, with affiliates in all 50 states.