The Obama administration appears to have bowed to pressure from pro-life groups that discovered it had authorized abortion funding in three states under the new high risk health insurance programs created under the new government-run health care bill, President Barack Obama signed into law.
-- From "Obama administration restricts abortion coverage in high-risk insurance pools" By Julian Pecquet, The Hill 7/29/10
A new regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday clearly prohibits state high-risk pools from covering elective abortions.
“The (high-risk pool) program,” the regulation states, “is Federally-created, funded, and administered (whether directly or through contract); it is a temporary Federal insurance program in which the risk is borne by the Federal government up to a fixed appropriation. As such, the services covered by the PCIP [Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan] program shall not include abortion services except in the case of rape or incest, or where the life of the woman would be endangered.”
An HHS spokeswoman on July 14 said the department would be issuing guidance to states setting up the pools regarding the restrictions. But Senate Republicans, armed with a report from the Congressional Research Service, said Wednesday that statement was insufficient. The senators had given HHS until Friday to issue more restrictive regulations.
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From "Obama Admin Bows to Pressure, Appears to Limit Abortion Funding in Health Care" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor 7/29/10
. . . pro-life groups informed LifeNews.com this morning that they are subjecting the new regulations to scrutiny to determine whether the Obama administration is following through on its promise to withhold abortion funding.
The new regulation says the subject of taxpayer funding of abortion under the new health care bill was addressed in the executive order Obama released that pro-life groups said was not sufficient to prevent abortion funding.
It also said the health care bill did not overturn current limits on abortion funding such as the Hyde Amendment, although the amendment does not apply to the health care law.
The regulation is a temporary proposed rule, known as an interim final regulation, that begins a 60-day comment period in which the public and groups on both sides of the abortion divide can weigh in on the regulation.
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Also read: Babies Spared Death, Liberals Furious
