Members of the U.S. Senate Financial Services Committee will be voting Tuesday on amendments which would keep abortion coverage out of the health-care bill.
Sen. Max Baucus’s, D-Mont., proposed health-care bill includes specific language that would allow abortion to be subsidized with taxpayer funds.
Recently, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has introduced several amendments that would prevent any government funding of abortions and protect current conscience laws for health care workers.
FRC Action has released a call to action asking constituents to contact Finance Committee members today and urge them to support the Hatch amendments.
If you would like to take part in this vital effort to keep your tax dollars from funding abortion in health care, please call these Senators:
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.):
202-224-5521
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.):
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.):
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.):
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.):
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine):
For those who would attempt to insist this isn't truly an issue and Obamacare would never cover abortions, the NYT reports today:
Abortion opponents in both the House and the Senate are seeking to block the millions of middle- and lower-income people who might receive federal insurance subsidies to help them buy health coverage from using the money on plans that cover abortion. And the abortion opponents are getting enough support from moderate Democrats that both sides say the outcome is too close to call. Opponents of abortion cite as precedent a 30-year-old ban on the use of taxpayer money to pay for elective abortions.
Abortion-rights supporters say such a restriction would all but eliminate from the marketplace private plans that cover the procedure, pushing women who have such coverage to give it up. Nearly half of those with employer-sponsored health plans now have policies that cover abortion, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The question looms as a test of President Obama’s campaign pledge to support abortion rights but seek middle ground with those who do not. Mr. Obama has promised for months that the health care overhaul would not provide federal money to pay for elective abortions, but White House officials have declined to spell out what he means.
Make your calls.
This is not about whether abortion is right or wrong or if life starts at conception, that is a battle that will rage between proponents and opponents for years to come.
This is about whether tax payer dollars should be used to fund abortions.. That is it.
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