Abortion Issues Unresolved As House Prepares To Unveil Health Reform Bill

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 30 Oct 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday was set to unveil a health reform bill that includes the more moderate version of a public option and an expansion of Medicaid eligibility levels to 150% of the federal poverty level, though "sticking points in the legislation involving abortion and immigration remain unresolved," the Washington Post reports (Murray, Washington Post, 10/29). House leaders hope to bring the bill to the floor next week, with a final vote by Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the "aggressive schedule" suggests House Democrats "are confident they can round up the votes they need" to pass the measure (Pear, New York Times, 10/29).

Yarmuth, Van Hollen Counter Claims From Stupak

On Wednesday, Reps. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) appeared on cable news shows to discuss the House bill's handling of abortion coverage. On MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews," Yarmuth debated the issue with Stupak -- who says he has at least 40 Democrats who will join him in blocking the bill unless there is a floor vote on his amendment to add additional restrictions on abortion coverage. Yarmuth said that think there is "consensus that we are not going to use taxpayer funds. The question is how you define it. ... what [Stupak] wants to do is go a lot further than the status quo ... And a woman under his amendment, as I understand it, shopping in the exchange for insurance would not be able to buy coverage for insurance, even with her own money. She would have to actually buy a separate rider, which means she would have to plan for an unplanned event, which I think is illogical."

Yarmuth continued that "if you wanted to stretch [Stupak's] argument further, you would end all ... tax breaks to employer-based insurance because about 80% of private plans cover abortions, and you would also probably end federal subsidies to some hospitals who perform abortions. So there's no limit to where you could take it if you want to end all federal support that even indirectly could be involved in an abortion."

Stupak said, "The Hyde language is very clear. You do not use public funds to pay for abortion or for policies. And we are just saying maintain the law that has been on the books for 35 years and let's live up to the president's word, no public funding for abortion in this health care plan, and we are happy, and we can go away."

Matthews said to Stupak, "I don't think anybody wants to see health care die over this issue. ... So, is there any way to avoid this at this point?" Stupak replied that "in the last 12 hours, we have had some good conversations. We're starting to share some language. We would like this resolved before the bill comes to the floor, so we don't have to have a rule fight on it." He added that his coalition "can't stop" the health reform bill but "we would delay it" by trying to send the bill back to the House Rules Committee (Matthews, "Hardball with Chris Matthews," MSNBC, 10/28).

Earlier in the day, on Fox News' "America's Newsroom," Van Hollen said there is "disagreement on exactly how to make sure you verify" that no federal funds go to covering abortion services and "make sure you put in place the ability to make sure that those public dollars are never used for those purposes, while allowing people to use their own money to buy insurance plans of their choosing and with the coverage of their choosing with their own money." Van Hollen said that he is unsure if the bill's current language "will exactly satisfy" Stupak and his supporters, "but we are working to make sure that we have language to satisfy those ... whose view is ... that no dollars under this health care reform package, public dollars, should go to fund abortions."

When asked if he agrees with the provisions in the Hyde Amendment, Van Hollen said, "Yes, ... in fact we're trying to codify the Hyde Amendment as part of the health care reform bill." He added, "We want to essentially adopt the same approach in the health care reform bill" (Hemmer, "America's Newsroom," Fox News, 10/28).

Stupak Writes Letter to the Editor

The Hill on Tuesday included a letter to the editor from Stupak defending his amendment (Stupak, The Hill, 10/29).

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