No, this isn't about an upcoming blockbuster movie ... it's about health care reform.
Mixed messages have made it difficult for many to discern what's fact or fiction in regards to health care reform.
Listen to an update on national health care reform efforts from Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote soon, perhaps in late September, on "health care reform" legislation (H.R. 3200) that contains far-reaching pro-abortion provisions, including a new nationwide insurance plan run entirely by the federal government that would cover all elective abortions.
The Democratic leaders who hold majority control in the U.S. Senate also have several versions of health-care restructuring bills that will be debated in the near future.
The health care bill recently approved by three committees in the House of Representatives would operate a nationwide "public option" insurance plan that would be authorized to cover abortion on demand. The bill would also provide federal subsidies to private insurance plans that cover elective abortions.
The pro-abortion Capps-Waxman Amendment that was added in the House Energy and Commerce Committee explicitly ratified these pro-abortion effects. This pro-abortion amendment was opposed by all of the prolife members of the committee. The committee rejected the prolife Stupak-Pitts Amendment (Prolife Rep. Bart Stupak represents Michigan's 1st Congressional District), which would have removed elective abortion from the scope of government-operated and government-subsidized insurance plans. We must keep the federal government from running an abortion insurance plan and oppose government subsidies for private plans that cover elective abortions.
For months, Administrative and Congressional proponents of the present health care reform bills have misrepresented the actual language in the bills that would result in government funding of elective abortions. Articles highlighting the misinformation regarding abortion and health care continue to pile up. FactCheck.org, New York Times, Associated Press and TIME Magazine highlight how abortion is included in current health care proposals.
How do we know abortion will be included in proposed health care reform legislation even if the word "abortion" doesn't appear in the legislation? The history of Medicaid shows that the federal government will fund abortion unless it is explicitly excluded.
Action Needed
Two areas of health care reform which need to be addressed include abortion coverage and rationing of health care. Contact your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. House Representative with the following two messages:
* abortion must be explicitly excluded from any health care/insurance reform legislation; and
* any health care restructuring providing coverage for the uninsured must have a sustainable, reliable means of full funding to prevent rationing.
Helpful Links:
Congressional Contact Information
Suggestions for letters to the editor and on-line posts
Sign On-Line Petition
Print Paper Petition to Circulate
Proposed U.S. House National Health Care Legislation -- 1,018 pages
Print and distribute this Action Alert to let others know about national health care reform plans
Right to Life of Michigan President Barbara Listing's update on national health care reform
Chart showing how health care bills equal government funded abortion
