By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
During an interview on the CBS Evening News, President Obama said citizens concerned about abortion coverage hidden in the healthcare bill should not get “distracted” with the contents of the bill.
In the July 21 interview, CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked the President, “Do you favor a government option that would cover abortions?”
Obama answered: “What I think is important, at this stage, is not trying to micromanage what benefits are covered. Because I think we’re still trying to get a framework. And my main focus is making sure that people have the options of high quality care at the lowest possible price.
“Rather than wade into that issue at this point, I think that it’s appropriate for us to figure out how to just deliver on the cost savings, and not get distracted by the abortion debate at this station,” he said.
The President has not hidden his belief that abortion should be part of health care reform. In a July 2007 session with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, he said abortion was “at the center, the heart of,” his healthcare overhaul.
The fact that abortion coverage is being included in all of the healthcare initiatives being put forth by Congress is becoming increasingly well known in spite of efforts to downplay the issue. Pro-life members of Congress have let it be known that all of the amendments they have introduced to exclude abortion and protect the conscience rights of doctors have been rejected thus far.
This has rallied pro-life forces across the country who will hold an on-line pro-life webcast tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST which has already drawn 13,000 participants.
However, the doublespeak continues. During the same CBS interview, the president told Couric that “What I think is important, at this stage, is not trying to micromanage what benefits are covered. [. . .] As you know, I’m pro choice. But I think we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care.”
What neither he nor the pro-abortion Couric mentioned was that he included the abolition of this “tradition” in a budget proposal recently passed in the House that will now force taxpayers to pay for abortion-on-demand in the nation’s capital.
“When we find long-standing traditions like limiting taxpayer funds for abortion, we know political common ground has been achieved,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.
“This is exactly the type of policy the President has sought to achieve, one that stands the test of time, agreed to by both Democratic and Republican administrations alike. Yet both the House and Senate versions of health care reform legislation seek to undo this commonsense policy. Without language to explicitly exclude an abortion mandate, the legislation will result in Americans footing the bill for abortion on- demand in the largest expansion of government- backed abortion since Roe v. Wade.”
Dannenfelser will be joined by more than a dozen pro-life leaders in an important pro-life webcast tonight intended to inform citizens about the way abortion is being included in healthcare bills and what they can do about it.
To register for the webcast, visit www.stoptheabortionmandate.com
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