National Right to Life/WASHINGTON/November 4, 2009 -
The House Democratic leadership today announced that it will propose a "Rule" on the health care bill, H.R. 3962, that will insert language proposed by Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-In.), and exclude a House vote on an amendment proposed by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mi.). The House is expected to vote on the "rule" late Friday or early Saturday. The National Right to Life Committee, the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, supports the Stupak Amendment and opposes the pro-abortion Ellsworth-Waxman-Pelosi language. NRLC issued the following statement, which may be attributed to NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson:
"Any House member who votes for the Pelosi rule is voting to establish a federal government insurance plan, the public option, that the bill explicitly authorizes to pay for all elective abortions. When a federal agency pays for abortions, that is federal funding of abortion in reality, whatever contrived labels Speaker Pelosi or her acolytes slap over it. The Ellsworth language is a political fig leaf made out of cellophane -- it directs the federal Secretary of Health to hire a contractor to deliver to abortion providers the payments for elective abortions, payments that are explicitly authorized by the bill [on page 110]. This is a money-laundering scheme -- a federally funded 'bag man' will deliver government funds to abortionists. This is federal funding of elective abortion."
NRLC's objections to the abortion-related provisions of H.R. 3962 are explained in detail in a letter sent to House members on November 2, posted here (or in PDF format, here).
Additional documentation is posted at http://www.nrlc.org/ahc
