Health Care Reform Doesn't Require Federal Funding of Abortion Services

Created by: Jillian

This weekend, Kathleen Parker's Column on Abortion and Health Care Reform appeared in the Washington Post.

While she acknowledged that the bills in Congress don't require federal funding of abortion services, she abandoned the facts and repeated baseless anti-choice talking points.

The truth is that pro-choice, pro-life and mixed-choice members of Congress supported a compromise offered by Rep. Lois Capps of California that gives people who oppose abortion the option of selecting a plan in the new system that does not include abortion care. It also keeps in place state-level abortion restrictions and federal laws allowing health professionals to refuse to provide abortion services.

Parker is wrong when she implies that the Capps' compromise separating public and private funds is a new concept. Currently, some hospitals that receive tax dollars through Medicaid also provide abortion care that's paid for with private funds. It has worked that way since the late 1970's, it is not new.

Currently, more than 80% of private plans include abortion coverage, so the real issue in this debate is that women could lose coverage they already have!