House Democrats were no closer to a compromise on abortion funding language in the president’s health care plan, with pro-life Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., insisting the final bill prohibit the use of any taxpayer dollars for the procedure and pro-choice Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insisting the current bill already meets Stupak’s requirement.
Stupak, appearing on Fox News, said he is currently in talks about the matter with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but no agreement had been reached.
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Stupak said up to a dozen Democrats would vote against the bill if the language isn’t changed to specifically exclude abortion funding.
“There are some principals worth fighting for, and this is one of them,” Stupak said.
Under President Obama’s current plan for passing his health bill, the House would have to first vote for the Senate-passed health care bill. Stupak and the other pro-life Democrats object to the abortion funding provisions in the bill. Those provisions, they said, provide a mechanism for federal funding of abortion through the creation of health insurance exchanges that would be operated by the federal Office of Personnel Management. The OPM would be required to contract with health insurance companies to provide policies that cover elective abortions.
“The Senate language creates a system managed by the federal government that would ensure that there is such a provider available in the exchanges it creates, and it facilitates payments by the individual to the provider,” said Chuck Donovan, a senior research fellow in domestic policy studies at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Donovan said another chance for taxpayer funding of abortion would be created via the $11 billion in federal funding the Senate bill allocates toward the creation of community health centers that would serve those in low-income areas.
Stupak wants to add restrictions to the Senate bill that replicate an amendment he authored in the House-passed health care bill. The Stupak amendment would have barred federal money from being used to buy insurance policies that cover abortion through the newly created exchanges. Women who used the health insurance exchanges who wanted abortion coverage would have to purchase an supplemental policy. The language mirrors the Hyde Amendment, which bars taxpayer-funded abortion through programs under the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Keep the Hyde Amendment,” Stupak said Wednesday. “It’s been around 30 years, and most Americans agree with it.”
But pro-choice advocates said it would make it almost impossible for women to get abortion coverage under the new health care system. The current Senate language became the compromise, but it has made no one happy. Not only does Stupak oppose it, the pro-choice advocates don’t like it either, saying the Senate bill goes too far in limiting the procedure because, among other things, it allows states to opt out of including abortion funding in their health insurance exchanges.
