Thursday's Washington Examiner posted an op-ed piece by Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United For Life. Ms. Yoest points out that the issue of issue of federal funding for abortion was not mentioned Thursday at the healthcare summit until House Minority Leader John Boehner brought it up mid-afternoon. At that point, President Obama did not directly address the issue, and it was not addressed until almost the end of the session. Nancy Pelosi stated that there was no public funding of abortion in the current bill. Seventy-two percent of Americans oppose federal funding of abortion.
The healthcare bill currently under consideration requires private health insurance plans to cover abortions, and it allows federally-subsidized plans to cover abortions. The latter is a change in the law. The bill imposes an abortion tax on people who use the health exchange. The current healthcare bill also fails to protect the conscience rights of people in the healthcare profession who do not want to participate in abortions. This could be a real problem for Catholic hospitals.
The article points out:
"That is what the president's plan has in common with the Senate bill. But his plan actually goes further than the Senate bill on Life. It calls for $11 billion for "community health centers" - many of which like Planned Parenthood, provide abortions. There is no language to restrict the use of this money for abortion."
Even if this money is not used directly to fund abortions, if this money is used for administrative costs, it will free up more money within the organization to fund abortions. It really is time to start from scratch on the healthcare reform bill.
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