Rep. James R. Langevin and other Democratic supporters of the [health-care reform] effort have warned that any change in the status quo on abortion — including a longstanding ban on federal taxpayer subsidies for abortion — could prevent Mr. Obama from attaining his top domestic policy goal.
-- From "Rep. James Langevin worries about abortion, health-care debate" by John E. Mulligan, Providence Journal Washington Bureau 7/28/09
“I’m deeply concerned that the abortion issue will derail health-care reform,” the Rhode Island congressman said in an interview Monday. Since lawmakers are far from completing their blueprints for the medical overhaul, the implications for abortion policy are not yet clear. It is thus too early to tell whether Langevin’s concern is well-based with Democrats holding strong majorities both houses of Congress.
In fact, Langevin, who generally opposes abortion, declined to say whether he would vote against a health-care bill that extended subsidies to abortion. But as a Democrat who views himself as seeking a middle ground on the highly charged issue, Langevin predicted that the measure cannot pass unless it includes language that specifically protects the ban on federal financing of abortion.
Because the issue is so volatile, Langevin last week joined Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio and other Democratic colleagues in writing Pelosi to ask for legislative language that, in their words, “maintains the current status quo in the private market” by letting insurers decide whether to offer abortion coverage “while ensuring that no federal funds are used for abortions.”
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