Thread by Mrs. Don-o.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insisted on Friday that the Senate health care bill does not allow tax-funding of abortion, and added that she had spoken with “Catholic bishops” about the issue. However, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told CNSNews.com that anyone who had spoken to the bishops about the legislation should know that it does fund abortion and that the bishops oppose the bill.
At a press conference on Friday, Pelosi was asked whether Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who opposes President Obama’s health proposal which uses the Senate bill as its foundation, was wrong in stating that the legislation would allow tax dollars to fund abortion and whether this would be a problem for those trying to advance the bill.
Pelosi, a Catholic, said, “Let me say it this way, there’s three, three--I don’t want to say principles--but three standards that we are using as we go forward, and I talked to the Catholic bishops about this and people on all sides of the choice issue.
“Law prevents federal funding, and federal law prevents federal funding of abortion,” said Pelosi. “There is no federal funding of abortion in this bill. There’ll be no expansion or diminution of a woman’s right to choose and that does not happen in this bill, and we’re determined that we are going to pass health care reform.
“This bill that passed the Senate does not have federal funding of abortion,” said Pelosi.
After Pelosi's press conference, Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), told CNSNews.com that “anyone” who has talked with them knows that the Senate bill, which forms the basis for the president’s proposal, allows taxpayer money to be used to pay for health plans that cover abortion.
“We do not know how anyone who has spoken to the bishops could conclude that the Senate health care bill does not fund abortions,” Doerflinger told CNSNews.com in an e-mail statement.
“As the bishops have said in their letters to Congress, abortion problems in the Senate bill are so serious that, despite our strong support for expanding access to health care, we will have to oppose the bill unless they are resolved,” said Doerflinger.
Inquiries to Speaker Pelosi’s office by CNSNews.com about the USCCB’s statement were not returned before this story was posted.
The USCCB has explained in detail, and in several letters, how the Senate health care bill allows for taxpayer money to go to health care plans that cover abortion.
Doerflinger told CNSNews.com: “While the Senate bill includes some language limiting the direct use of tax credits to subsidize abortion coverage, it still violates longstanding federal precedent on abortion funding in two ways.”
”First, the Senate’s abortion language limits only the use of tax credits for abortion in qualified health plans, not other funding in the bill,” he said.
“For example, the bill authorizes and appropriates $7 billion for services at community health centers (increased to $11 billion in the President’s new proposal),” said Doerflinger. “The Hyde amendment does not prevent direct use of these billions of dollars for elective abortions (because the funds are not provided through the appropriations bill governed by Hyde), nor does any provision in the Senate bill.”
“Second, the Senate’s language on tax credits still allows subsidies for overall health plans that cover elective abortions, against the policy of the Hyde amendment and other longstanding federal laws,” said Doerflinger.
“The bill requires each American purchasing such a plan to make a separate payment to the insurer every month, solely to pay for other people’s abortions,” he said. “This is an enormous imposition on the consciences of the millions of Americans who oppose abortion.”
Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, also reacted to Pelosi's claim that the Senate health bill does not fund abortion. “She has just repeated the same deceptive claptrap,” Johnson told CNSNews.com.
“She is back to the old denial and deception approach, but she has no credibility on this issue and her claims were repudiated by one-quarter of her own caucus last Nov. 7th ,” Johnson said.
Nov. 7th refers to the day that the House passed its version of health care reform with only one Republican in support and one-quarter of Democrats in opposition, which culminated in a 220 to 215 vote. Before narrowly approving the bill, the House voted by a larger margin to approve an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D.-Mich.) that prohibited any federal funding of any health care plan under the bill that covered abortion.
Michelle Begnoche, a spokeswoman for Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.), told CNSNews.com in an e-mail that Stupak was not available for comment but that “he has made clear that the Senate language is a departure from current law and is unacceptable.”
The Senate rejected language by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) that mirrored the pro-life Stupak amendment in the House legislation.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a 13-page document explaining why the Senate bill allows tax dollars to funded abortion.
“Of the two bills, only the House bill conforms to current law on abortion funding,” reads the document. They credit that to Stupak’s amendment.
“Thus under the Senate bill, notwithstanding ‘the segregation of funds’ provision, federal subsidies will be used to help expand access nationwide to abortion coverage,” reads the document.
Thread by me.
Commentary by David Bereit, National Coordinator, 40 Days for Life
March 3, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A young woman walked up to the 40 Days for Life vigil outside an abortion center in Austin, Texas recently. She signed up to join the others in prayer ... and then immediately sat down on the sidewalk and started to cry.
One of the volunteers stopped praying for a moment to approach the young woman, whom she had never met before, and asked her if she needed a hug. This volunteer assumed that the thought of what was going on inside the abortion facility had simply overcome this woman and brought her to tears.
But that wasn't the case. To her surprise, she found out this young woman was crying for another reason.
"I'm pregnant right now and don't want to be," she said. "I've already had four abortions.
She said she didn't have an abortion scheduled. "But I keep feeling this huge temptation to just go to an abortion clinic, pay my $400 and get it over with. I came to the sidewalk to pray, and to be around people who are like-minded as I am."
The young woman told one of the sidewalk counselors that she was twelve weeks into her pregnancy. She had already been to a pregnancy resource center, but was still a mess emotionally.
She had become a Christian, she said. "But with this pregnancy, I just feel so depressed. I'm living in a women's shelter, and the last thing I want right now is to be pregnant."
The sidewalk counselor took her to dinner, and they sat and talked for hours. "As they developed a long-term plan to get this young woman the help she needs," said Elizabeth McClung, the local 40 Days for Life coordinator in Austin, "she said something that should serve as an encouragement to every single pro-lifer who has ever thought about going to pray at an abortion facility."
"If you guys weren't out there praying," this woman said, "I would have pulled up to the facility, sat in my car for hours on end -- and ended up going inside for a fifth abortion. Since you were on the sidewalk praying, I knew I could find comfort and support there, so I went there to cry instead. Thank you for being there."
"Her story is the perfect example as to why we not only pray from home and from church, but we also go pray at the very places where lives are being hurt and taken," Elizabeth said.
She is now on a path to healing from her previous abortions, finding a job and taking her pregnancy one day at a time. And, Elizabeth said, "She is not going to have another abortion!"
Please pray for her, and for all who are desperate to break out of that cycle of abortion.