News reports today confirm that an executive order on abortion funding is being developed in an attempt to assuage anti-choice members of the House of Representatives and to secure their votes in the down-to-the-wire battle over passage of healthcare reform. The text of the proposed executive order has not been publicly disclosed. Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights has this response:
Leaders in the House courageously held the line on abortion this week, assuring that efforts by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) to secure a side deal forcing a vote in the House on his amendment or adding it to the healthcare reform bill would remain unsuccessful. It is therefore extremely worrisome that news reports today indicate that a side deal in a different form that of an executive order is now in the works.
Any such agreement would lend additional credibility to the current state of federal policy, which punishes poor women by withholding funding under Medicaid and numerous other federal programs for abortion, a common procedure needed for reproductive health as well as a constitutional right.
We would remind negotiators that the current state of the law is merely a function of language enacted by Congress in annual appropriations bills, and has changed many times over past years in its scope. It would be a shame to affix this impermanent state of affairs in administrative policy by means of an executive order or any other vehicle.