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Pro-life Democrats disagree over whether bills include federal funding for abortion, its democrats are at odds with their party's leaders, saying abortions will be publicly funded under health care reforms as current legislation stands.

Speaking at a roundtable this week, Senator Bob Casey (D-Penn.) said last week that there are more changes to be made to the bill before he will be confident federal money won't fund abortion. Casey, a pro-life Catholic, was criticized by church leaders earlier this year for voting to allow federal funding for overseas clinics that provide abortions by overturning the Mexico City policy. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) followed Casey by saying no one will have to make a choice between voting for health care reform and ensuring abortion isn't federally funded because Democrats have ensured that abortion services will not receive public money. Likewise, President Barack Obama has promised that under his plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.

A current law called the Hyde amendment bars most federal funding for abortion, applying those restrictions to Medicaid. Democrats continue to cite the Hyde Amendment when they talk about prohibitions on federally funded abortions. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), told reporters Wednesday that to say the plan would subsidize abortions is the same as saying the government is subsidizing abortions for those who travel on highways to abortion clinics. Some versions of health care reform include an amendment proposed by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), which was touted as a compromise. It would allow insurance companies that participate in the publicly run insurance exchange to provide abortions, but individuals would have to use their own premiums to pay for abortions. But critics say that the amendment still doesn't keep federal money separate from private money. Premiums paid by individuals on a public plan would go into a fund along with "affordability credits" that would be given to low-income individuals to pay for abortions, according to separate reports by the Family Research Council and the Associated Press. Party leaders will not bring to the floor legislation sponsored by pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan that would expressly ban federal funding for abortion.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee initially passed Stupak's amendment in July, but it failed by one vote after a re-vote. On Thursday, Stupak met with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee but failed to come to an agreement on abortion language. In late September, 25 Democrats and 158 Republicans sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking her to allow them to vote on the amendment. One of those legislators was Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who says he has "every confidence" that it would pass if brought to the House floor. Like Day, he believes that neither the Hyde or Capps amendments would block federal funds from abortions. The Hyde Amendment applies only to plans for Medicaid patients, while the Capps amendment would make abortion available through a government-sponsored insurance exchange, he told CT. Democrats are committed to retaining current prohibitions against federal abortion funding, according to Rep. Stabenow.

Source: Christianity Today

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