Pro-Life Dems Challenge Pelosi on Abortion and Health Care Reform

Led by Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), 19 Democrats outlined their objections to the current draft of the health care bill in a forceful letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The pro-life Democrats, including Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA), a member of the Pro-life Women’s Caucus, stated “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 explains, “Without an explicit exclusion, abortion could be included in the a government subsidized heath care plan under general health care. The health care reform package produced by Congress will be landmark, and with legislation as important as this, abortion must be addressed clearly in the bill text.”

The letter to Speaker Pelosi continues by explaining that restrictions on funding save lives by reducing the number of abortions. According to the Guttmacher Policy Review, a pro-choice research organization associated with Planned Parenthood, “about one third of women who would have had an abortion if support were available carried their pregnancies to term when the abortion fund was unavailable.”
 
 

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