Ask President Obama WHY his administration is restricting abortion coverage for vulnerable women.

[depakid]

After all of your hard work defeating Rep. Stupak's draconian abortion coverage ban, the Obama administration is planning to voluntarily bring the ban back to life in the new insurance pools for people with pre-existing conditions. This is deeply troubling. Not only should every woman be able to decide what is best for her health and her family, but women participating in high-risk insurance pools are particularly vulnerable and may have a special need for abortion.

For example, because of the restriction, a woman with heart disease or diabetes might be compelled to carry a pregnancy to term despite its potentially damaging effect on her future health. What's more, this ban is more restrictive than the abortion provision that will govern the exchanges once they are established: It does not allow states to choose to cover abortion, and it does not give women the option to buy a plan that includes abortion coverage using their own money.

More: https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=2493&page=UserAction&cr=2&s_src=UNW100001ACT&s_subsrc=100715_stupak&cr=1&JServSessionIdr004=3lyuoi4hj2.app226a

[saracat]

1. I honestly thought this was just a repeat of the exec order, which was disgusting.

Now this is a further extension of the ban? WHY is the WH the anti-choicers? WHY?

[Tansy_Gold]

2. "We" aren't placating the anti-choicers.

"Someone," however, clearly is.


:puke:




TG, NTY

[saracat]

3. Thanks. I made an edit to make it clear "WHO" is placating. We certainly didn't write the first

executive order, not do "WE" approve of this!

[depakid]

15. Interesting to see the unrecs- under the bus with a woman's right to choose

For some it seems there's nothing worth standing up for outside of single minded devotion to a politician.

Symptomatic of the nation's decline.

[Name removed]

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[DURHAM D]

4. sickening

[ima_sinnic]

5. that is an outrage -- never thought I'd see that with a Democratic president

-- not the "change" I really had in mind. :nuke:

[Ken Burch]

25. You'll know we've had it if he starts saying "life is not fair".

n/t.

[OHdem10]

6. During the passage of Health Care Bill, remember all the back

and forth up and down and sideways with the Stupak
Group, at that the President gave a Pres. order
No Federal Funds can be used for abortions. This
was the way it was resolved--I believe I am correct
on this????

[truedelphi]

9. That's what I thought too.

And there was a whole crowd out there saying, well, Federal Funds have never been allowed for abortions, which was true, except now that the Federal Government is in the new business of being the Head Honcho/Arbitrator of who what and how with regards to the health Insurance industry, it is a whole new ball game.

In effect, the Obama Administration is making abortion as close to being impossible for the lower class (and most younger women are in the low brackets of income)

[Hekate]

21. The Hyde Amendment was left as-is. It's been around for many years.

[ProSense]

7. Isn't it being operated consistent with federal law?

Statement of HHS Spokeswoman Jenny Backus on the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan Policy

As is the case with FEHB plans currently, and with the Affordable Care Act and the President's related Executive Order more generally, in Pennsylvania and in all other states abortions will not be covered in the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) except in the cases of rape or incest, or where the life of the woman would be endangered.

Our policy is the same for both state and federally-run PCIP programs. We will reiterate this policy in guidance to those running the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan at both the state and federal levels. The contracts to operate the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan include a requirement to follow all federal laws and guidance.

[Diamonique]

26. Yes this is consistent with current laws. Nothing new.

So I don't understand why the Obama administration finds it necessary to restate it, since doing so only serves to piss off progressives.

I don't get it.

[OhioBlue]

27. looks that way to me

however, planned parenthood and the ACLU must have 3rd quarter funding drive underway or something.....

[boppers]

8. *sigh*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment

Know how to make it go away? Hint: Obama hasn't been putting it in there, so asking him is kind of an exercise in futility.

[depakid]

10. You ought to look at the facts- and follow the links prior to sighing

Nothing in the Hyde Amendment requires this provision.

Even using their own private funds, individuals would not be able to buy policies that cover abortion in these pools. The only exemptions would reportedly be for women who have been raped, who are the victims of incest or who will likely die if they carry the pregnancy to term.

[boppers]

11. I read it. I also read some other perspectives.

Individuals can still buy abortion coverage, they just can't buy a *single* (one) plan, from these pools, for themselves, that mingles federal money and personal money, if that plan covers "elective" abortion.

They're playing fast and loose, and hoping people will ignore the details omitted by their broad generalizations.

As far as the Hyde amendment not explicitly prohibiting it in this case, that's an argument about the letter of the law, vs. the spirit of the law.

[depakid]

13. So the administration is using the "spirit of the law" to assail women's reproductive rights?

This is just one more in a series of actions that ought to demonstrate to every single progressive constituency that they'd better keep the pressure on and watch their backs.

[OhioBlue]

28. it doesn't say they wouldn't be able to buy

private policies for abortion coverage... but that they can't use their own money to buy abortion coverage.... which reads like you cannot be in a Government health insurance plan and buy additional coverage with your own money from THAT Government insurance plan for pre-existion conditions for additional coverage for abortion. Reads like you can still pay out of pocket for an abortion or have another non Government plan that covers abortion.

I'm not in favor of the restriction, but I would rather discuss things as they are rather than try to discuss it when people all outraged over e-mails and act like this is some, new, over the top initiative.

[Name removed]

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[Pisces]

14. I don't understand the controversy. Plans do not currently cover abortions now.

If it is life and death of the mother an abortion will be performed. More women will not die in childbirth due to this provision, nor will more women have babies they don't want due to this provision.
Anyone who wants to get an abortion will still be able to get one.

[Name removed]

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[babylonsister]

16. This says "elective" abortion coverage...

"Elective abortion services will not be covered in state high-risk pools set up to provide coverage for sick people who can't get insurance, according to Obama administration officials," CQ HealthBeat reports. "The statement came following reports that abortion could be permitted in some states under proposals submitted for the pools." An HHS spokeswoman offered the statement "after anti-abortion groups said earlier this week that an executive order by President Obama banning federal financing of most abortions under the new health care law was being subverted in states such as Pennsylvania. The president's promise to issue the order was key to obtaining the support of anti-abortion Democrats such as Bart Stupak of Michigan for passage of the health care law" (Norman, 7/15).

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2010/July/16/Abortion-politics.aspx

[ProSense]

23. Outrage

doesn't have to be based on facts.

[niyad]

17. k and r-disgusting, but, alas, not surprising

[Phx_Dem]

19. This does not preclude women from having abortions.

It continues the same policy that we have always had -- public funds do not pay for abortions. If a woman wants an abortion, she can pay for one. They're less expensive than the 50 percent co-pay that people pay for basic dental work.

If her health is in danger, the insurance will pay for it.

[Pisces]

24. stop making so much sense with your crazy facts. people want to be outraged

[depakid]

32. That's actually a false statement purported to be a fact

That Americans have lost the ability to determine what objective facts are is quite telling, regardless of the motivation- and it's probably the single largest determinate in the nation's decline.

[Hekate]

20. According to my pro-choice congresswoman, the EXISTING Hyde Amendment is left intact.Nothing changes

It's NOT ideal but by the same token it's NOT a change from existing law.

Before passing along the same frightening spam that has been repeated for a year (it's the flip side of the teabaggers' "forced abortions" and "death panels") I would suggest writing to or phoning Congresswoman Lois Capps' office and asking what the deal is. She has a DC website, just like all the rest of the Congresscritters.

Hekate

[IndianaGreen]

22. K&R for ACLU

and K&R for you posting the OP.

:kick:

[AtomicKitten]

29. This merely reiterates the Hyde Amendment.

[IndianaGreen]

31. Henry Hyde was a misogynist fat slob

and the Hyde Amendment never applied to existing plans which is what this travesty is targeting.

Using the Henry Hyde's logic, I don't want my taxes to go in support of churches, which they do in subsidizing the deductions for the idiots that give money to their churches. I also don't want my taxes to support the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, or in any of the other 73 countries in which we are conducting military operations.

[Name removed]

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