By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Nineteen pro-life Democrats in the U.S. House signed a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing their opposition to any health care reform that includes abortion funding.
“We cannot support any health-care reform proposal unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan,” the letter read.
“Plans to mandate coverage for abortions, either directly or indirectly (are) unacceptable,” they wrote.
“We want to ensure that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee cannot recommend abortion services be included under covered benefits or as part of benefits package,” the letter further stipulated. “Without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be included in a government subsidized health care plan under general health care.”
Shaun Kenney, executive director of the American Life League, told CNSNews.com that “Nineteen Democrats breaking the fold is a sign that not everybody within the Democratic Party is completely sold out to the abortion lobby.”
He pointed out that taxpayer dollars are already going towards programs that fund abortion, such as the $349 million a year that is doled out in the form of federal and state tax subsidies to Planned Parenthood.
Kenney expressed optimism about the letter, no matter what the stridently pro-abortion speaker’s reaction might be.
“What this ultimately is, is the spark, and whether or not Speaker Pelosi listens to them, it certainly is going to encourage the conversation as to whether or not the principles of social justice ultimately coincide with the principles of the abortion lobby,” he added.
The letter was signed by Reps. Dan Boran (D-Okla.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), Colin Peterson (D-Minn..), Tim Holden (D-Pa.), Travis Childers (D-Miss.), Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), Mike Mclntyre (D-N.C.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), James Oberstar (D-Minn.), Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Charlie Melancon (D-La.), John Murtha (D-Pa.), Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.), and Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-Pa.).
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