Abortion to be Lost in Reconciliation Process

Health Care Reform Is Far From Dead

President Obama is meeting with Democrats and Republicans in the coming days to try to work out a health care plan.

Very soon, the House and Senate bills will be combined into a single bill—probably through reconciliation* which requires only 51 votes—and then it goes to the President to be signed into law.

The stark reality is that both the House and Senate bills, as they now stand, go further to restrict abortion than any federal law.

The Nelson Amendment = the Stupak Amendment!
The Stupak amendment in the House bill and the Nelson amendment in the Senate bill are one and the same. They will both take away any insurance coverage for abortion that women can now obtain.The only difference is that the Stupak amendment bans abortion coverage outright while the Nelson amendment does it by placing such onerous obstacles in the path of insurance companies that they cannot afford to provide coverage.

The end result is the same: no abortion coverage in health care reform.

For details about these two amendments click:
 
We must demand that the Stupak and Nelson amendments both be dropped from any bill passed by Congress!
 
Here’s The Proof!
The president and CEO of Affinity Health Plan, Maura Bluestone writes, …“Although not outright banning abortion coverage, the Senate provision would thus effectively eliminate the availability of such coverage.”

Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler explains why the Nelson language will lead to insurers dropping abortion coverage.  (Click Here to Read Com. Kriedler’s Letter.)

Professor Karen Pollitz writes, “One must question whether any insurer would bother offering abortion coverage at the cost of so much red tape.” “Because health reform also requires insurers to increase their loss ratios, the two-check requirement makes it doubtful that insurers would offer abortion coverage at all.” (Click Here to Read Prof. Pollitz’s Analysis.)

(*Reconciliation is a legislative process introduced in 1974 which is intended to allow consideration of a contentious budget bill without the threat of filibuster. Reconciliation bills have special Senate protection and are allowed to pass by simple majority votes, after limited debate.)Â