Abortion advocates and Planned Parenthood (PPFA) are not resting, and the pro-death forces in the U.S. Senate are slavishly meeting their wicked demand to include abortion coverage in health care reform. See the email link here from PPFA's president, Cecile Richards (daughter of the late pro-abortion Texas Governor Anne Richards).
As the health care debate continues, the defense of the sanctity of innocent human life still rests in the hands of abortion supporters. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) rejected the health care reform passed by the U.S. House and wrote his own new bill, which include language that at first examination appears to prevent abortion funding. However, the Reid language is actually the most aggressively pro-death of all the reform measures yet presented.
The Reid proposal, named Community Health Insurance Option, allows coverage of abortion in federally subsidized health care plans as long as private funds are used to pay for the procedure (which does not make sense to us either!). However, even if abortion is covered entirely from premiums paid by those insured, the premiums covering abortion are from the government insurance plan. Still confused? Just remember, the government does not have its own money; the money sought by the abortion conspirators is all taken from us, from our private pockets.
In Section 1303, entitled Special Rules, which outlines the do's and dont's on pages 116-124, ABORTION COVERAGE IS MANDATED AND WILL BE PAID FOR WITH OUR MONEY. The following excerpt from Subsection D (page 120, lines 9-20) shows the extremism of this proposal: Anyone offering the public option to employees is required to offer both the plan that covers abortion and the plan that does not cover abortion.
The Secretary shall assure that with respect to qualified health plans offered in any Exchange established pursuant to this title–
[LIST=1]
[*]there is at least one such plan that provides coverage of services described in clauses(i) and (ii) of subparagraph (B) [abortion]; and
[*]there is at least one such plan that does not provide coverage of services described in subparagraph (B)(i) [abortion].
[/LIST]
Reid's so-called “public option” bill authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius (who, as Kansas governor, received large campaign contributions from deceased late-term abortionist George Tiller), to require coverage of any and all abortions through the public option. Regardless of what Reid says, his “option” expands government funding of abortion and establishes new tax-supported subsidies to purchase private health plans that will cover unlimited abortion on demand.
Senator Reid was careful to be sure that the federal government is not responsible for any risks associated with mandated abortion coverage. On page 119, lines 3-8, the Health and Human Services Secretary is instructed to
[QUOTE]take(s) all necessary steps to assure that the United States does not bear the insurance risk for a community health insurance option's coverage of services [abortion]described in subparagraph (B)(i).[/QUOTE]
When the U.S. House passed its version of health care reform on November 7th, the bill included the Pro-Life Stupak-Pitts amendment, continuing the long tradition of keeping federal funds out of abortion. However, the thrill of victory for Life was brief. With the help of Cecile Richards and Planned Parenthood, the pro-abortion extremists immediately vowed to remove the Stupak-Pitts amendment, and Senator Harry Reid is leading the charge, carrying their caldron for them.
In addition to concerns about abortion coverage mandates, the Reid bill also leaves at risk individuals at the end of their lives. The House bill prevented the promotion of assisted suicide in the provision mandating counseling on end-of-life issues; the Senate version, however, does not. The only overt mention of assisted suicide is in an ambiguous and loosely worded conscience clause that protects medical professionals who do not commit assisted suicide. Senator Reid included this odd protection in his bill, but Reid's senate language prohibits neither promoting assisted suicide nor coverage for assisted suicide. The language regarding end-of-life care even suggests that federal funds could be used for assisted suicide in states where this injustice has been legalized (Oregon, Washington, and Montana).
Texas Right to Life is monitoring every provision in every version of the bill to ensure that the unborn and vulnerable are not further endangered.
Harry Reid needs to hear from you. While elected by Nevadans, he is in charge of our U.S. Senate. Call him today in Washington, D.C., at 202 – 224 – 3542 and urge him to remove the assaults on innocent human life in the Senate version of the bill. Ask him to mirror the identical language in the Stupak-Pitts amendment. Also call his district offices at 775 – 686 – 5750 (Reno), 775 – 882 – 7343 (Carson City), and 702 – 388 – 5020 (Las Vegas).