President Obama, Pelosi inaccurately respond: Health bills do not fund abortion

Yesterday members of Congress attended the White House Summit on Health Care Legislation. Responding to a claim by Minority Leader John Boehner that the health care legislation will fund abortion, President Obama dismissed it as talking points and "untrue." Speaker Pelosi also inaccurately responded that the health bills do not fund abortion.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins had this to say about the President's claims on abortion funding:

"Just days after the President released a proposal that leaves several abortion funding provisions in the Senate bill intact, he had the audacity to claim the health care bills would not fund abortion. Even Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak deemed the White House proposal 'unacceptable' when it comes to funding abortion.

"Then adding one untruth on another, Speaker Pelosi disputed Congressman Boehner's statement and misled the American people by asserting that the bills do not include government funding of abortions. She also failed to mention that the House-passed bill included the Stupak amendment to prevent abortion funding, but that the Senate rejected the amendment.

"The fact is, the President's proposal to amend the Senate bill leaves several abortion provisions in place: in Section 1303 it allows tax credit subsides for plans that include abortion and leaves the abortion charge for these plans in place. It maintains the proposal to create a statewide plan that includes abortion in Sec. 1334. But it's worse: it would actually increase the Senate bill funding from $7 billion to $11 billion for community health centers in Sec. 10503 without any abortion funding restrictions.

"The President and Speaker Pelosi should be ashamed of their misleading statements.  The legislation that President Obama is pushing provides federal subsidies for health plans that cover abortions, authorizes plans to cover elective abortions, and funds community health care centers to the tune of 11 billion taxpayer dollars without any abortion restrictions.  

That is not 'political posturing' but the cold hard facts that even the mainstream media including the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/19/AR2009121902383.html) admit to.  This bill is a danger to the American people both born and unborn, and deserves to be thrown on the ash heap of bad ideas."