RNC Chair Steele Says 'No Hypocrisy' In Offering Staffers Insurance Plan That Covers Abortion

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Public Health
Article Date: 26 Nov 2009 - 3:00 PST

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Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele said Monday that there is "no hypocrisy" in offering RNC employees an insurance plan that includes abortion coverage, despite the fact that the party's platform opposes abortion rights, Politico reports. Earlier this month, Politico reported that RNC employees since 1991 have been covered under a Cigna plan that includes abortion coverage. RNC has since said it will opt out of coverage for the procedure.

Appearing on CNN's "American Morning," Steele said, "We have done some digging into that and it's not as it appears, as we found out from our insurance carrier," adding that "people didn't know" about the abortion provision in the coverage. He continued, "We found this language, and we've now fixed the problem" (Barr, Politico, 11/23).

Conservative Checklist for GOP

A group of conservative RNC members is proposing a 10-point checklist that would gauge Republican lawmakers' adherence to core party principles, such as opposing government financing of abortion and President Obama's "socialist agenda," the New York Times reports. The proposal would instruct the party to deny campaign money and endorsements to candidates who do not adhere to at least seven of the 10 principles.

According to the Times, it is unclear whether the RNC will adopt the checklist when the committee considers it early next year. However, the existence of the list demonstrates the internal GOP debate about how to best handle pressure from conservatives to move the party to the far right and to regain control of Congress and the White House (Rutenberg/Nagourney, New York Times, 11/24).

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