Anyone in the House listening?
Every chance he gets, Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak is making a reasoned argument for his amendment to ensure health care legislation won’t require citizens to pay for abortion.
House Democratic leaders introduced their health care plan last week with language, known as the Capps amendment, that would mandate public funding for abortion.
The Capps amendment is being sold as a compromise that maintains the status quo on the issue of federal funding for abortion. That is simply not the case. I have asked for a vote to amend the bill to include the Hyde amendment, which already prohibits federal funding of abortion in all other federal health programs, including Medicaid and the Federal Employees Health Benefits plans.
Thirty years of precedent supports adding the Hyde amendment to this bill. The ban on federal funding for abortions is a long-standing policy that has been in place since 1977 and has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Capps amendment departs from these laws in important and troubling ways.
Why? I mean, why depart from long-standing policy and the supremely reasonable coverage of the Hyde Amendment? And why do the prevailing powers in the House want to require taxpayers to fund abortion, against the will of a majority of Americans?
The Hyde amendment is not about limiting choice when it comes to abortion. Nothing prevents those who choose to obtain abortion services using private funds from doing so. It simply says federal funds should not be used to pay for abortion. This is consistent with how the Medicaid system operates today, prohibiting the use of federal funds and state matching funds from paying for abortion, but allowing states the option of providing supplemental abortion coverage.
The concerns of those of us who want to see Hyde language in the bill are shared by the 67% of Americans who oppose spending public money on abortion. And, in his address to Congress, President Obama told the American people the health care plan would not have public funding for abortion.
He also told the pope he was committed to reducing the number of abortions. Since he’s so convincing, maybe he can help Rep. Stupak in the House.
