Senate Finance Committee Smacks Down Right-to-Life Amendments

Sticking to the Obama/Planned Parenthood agenda like glue, the Senate Finance Committee today smacked down two amendments to prevent the “America’s Healthy Future Act” from providing massive abortions subsidies.    Senator Hatch offered an amendment that would have prohibited federal funds from subsidizing plans that cover elective abortions, but would have allowed insurers to sell abortion coverage through separate supplemental policies not subsidized by federal funds.   The amendment failed 13-10. The only Democrat who supported the amendment was Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota.  The only Republican who opposed the amendment was Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine.

Another Hatch amendment would have protected conscience rights of those who do not wish to participate in providing abortions.  This amendment also lost on a 13-10 vote.

In the House, Reps. Bart Stupak (D-Mi), and Joe Pitts (R-Pa) continue to push their amendment to exclude abortion coverage from the House health care reform bill.   Stupak, Pitts and 181 additional House members (25 Democrats and 158 Republicans) sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi urging her to allow a vote on the Stupak/Pitts amendment.

Doug Johnson of National Right to Life noted that the almost unanimous Democratic opposition to measures to get abortion out of health care reform measures “support our theory that President Obama is misleading the public when he says he does not want federal dollars used for abortion….the President is trying to smuggle sweeping pro-abortion policies into law behind smokescreens of contrived language, verbal misdirection, and outright misrepresentation.”

Barbara Lyons