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Author Topic: Will Abortion be the deal breaker on Healthcare reform?
SeekingFreedom
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Moderate Democrats will dertermine if health care bill gets to Senate floor

To secure the votes of anti-abortion Democrats, House Democratic leaders passed a health care bill that prohibits abortion coverage in a government-sponsored plan and in private plans that accept anyone using government subsidies to buy insurance coverage.

In the Senate, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, said he would vote against any bill without those restrictions. But abortion rights Democrats, including many of the 17 Senate women, may object.


Obama strays into abortion crossfire

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama probably never intended to do it, but his push for healthcare reform has reopened debate on one of America's most polarizing issues -- abortion.

"This is a healthcare bill, not an abortion bill," Obama told ABC News Monday. But that aspect of the healthcare overhaul is dividing his Democratic party and may threaten the entire effort.

It has been 36 years since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld every American woman's right to end a pregnancy.

Even after all that time, Americans are split on the subject. The latest poll by the Pew Research Center found that 46 percent think abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 44 percent say it should be illegal.

Abortion opponents are a powerful force in U.S. politics. On the fringes of American life, the most extreme of them are a continuing threat: an anti-abortion activist named Scott Roeder is awaiting trial for murdering abortion provider George Tiller while he was at church in Wichita, Kansas, in May this year.

Even within the Democratic party, the traditional home of pro-choice voters, many lawmakers refuse to support government subsidies for abortion and they have been banned for decades.

So, what will happen if Obama gets his overhaul and Washington subsidizes medical care for many Americans?

The latest proposal would maintain the current ban -- and possibly even extend it to the millions of women who get their health insurance privately.

Conservatives are adamantly in favor of it, feminists are furious and centrist Democratic lawmakers are caught in the middle.

What does the president want?

On the one hand, he said in the interview with ABC News, "we're not looking to change what is a core principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions."

But on the other hand, he said, we want to make sure that we're not restricting women's insurance choices.

So he's calling for compromise, the one thing that a generation of Americans who support abortion or ardently oppose it, haven't achieved so far.

Posts: 1802 | From: Utah | Registered: Mar 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
The Bigfoot
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Yep, that's gonna be a tough nut.

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glassman
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GOP chairman ends abortion insurance for employees

By CHRISTINE SIMMONS (AP) – 2 days ago

WASHINGTON — A chagrined GOP Chairman Michael Steele has told Republican National Committee staff to immediately stop providing RNC employees with insurance for elective abortions — an option that Republicans strongly oppose as Democrats try to pass a health care overhaul bill.

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," Steele said in a statement late Thursday after learning of the abortion coverage from a news report. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

Steele instructed staff to inform the insurance carrier that the RNC wanted to opt out of elective abortion coverage, RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said. She said the policy has been in effect since 1991.

A memo earlier from RNC Chief of Staff Ken McKay to the organization's members said Steele was taking the matter very seriously and "has been engaged by phone on this issue."

The GOP platform traditionally includes strong anti-abortion language. All House Republicans, except one, voted for an amendment imposing restrictions of coverage for abortions in the health care bill that passed the House last Saturday. Inclusion of the abortion restrictions prompted an angry backlash from liberal House Democrats, and some are now threatening to vote against a final bill if the curbs stay in.

The memo said the RNC received a phone call from a reporter on Wednesday asking whether the RNC's health care policy, through Cigna, covered elective abortions for employees. On Thursday, Politico.com published a report citing two sales agents for Cigna who said the RNC's policy covered elective abortion.

The Cigna employees said the RNC didn't choose to opt out of abortion coverage when given the opportunity, Politico.com reported.

"Upon learning of this story, at the chairman's direction, we immediately contacted the Executive Committee," the RNC memo said. "We will be scheduling a call with the Executive Committee in the immediate future to discuss this matter more fully."

The memo said the RNC health insurance policy has been in review for some time.

"Chairman Steele had already called for an official review of our health insurance policy along with a number of other operational items," the memo said.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkWWFIEXgAtpUcUXCugfHS1qLYRwD9 BUIGQO0

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Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

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jordanreed
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abortion is a legal, medical procedure...of course it should be covered..but there has to be boundaries..hmmm..but its an elective issue at times...its covered now under the welfare program,,,I havent heard many people beetch about that.

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jordan

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glassman
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the Hyde ammendment restricts federal spending on abortions, but many states elect to have different laws...

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Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise.

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raybond
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IMHO Obama and his crew knew that this issue was going to come up you know that they can read polls and make plan incase this pops up.

I really have never seen why abortion is an issue in a free society if you think it is wrong don't get one its really that simple. all relgious sects in the world had to live in communities that had different opinions on social issues. The difference here is that nobody forces you to to do anything that is against your belief.

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raybond
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McCain urges town hall attendees to cut up their AARP membership cards.
Last week, the AARP, a nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of those aged 50 and over, endorsed the House health care bill. “We can say with confidence that it meets our priorities for protecting Medicare, providing more affordable health insurance for 50- to 64-year-olds and reforming our health care system,” AARP vice president Nancy Leamond said. At a town hall meeting in Arizona on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) vowed to “fight with every fiber of my body” to oppose a similar health care reform bill in the Senate. He then claimed that Medicare will actually be “cut” and reportedly urged the town hall attendees to tear up their AARP membership cards:

The 2,000-page bill would mean more regulation and mandates, he said. People wouldn’t be able to keep the coverage they had. It would also increase taxes and the cost of Medicare, he said.

The bill claims to save $500 billion in waste from Medicare, he said.

“I don’t think so,” McCain said. “I think it’s going to cut it.”

He encouraged audience members to cut up their AARP cards and send them back.
McCain urges town hall attendees to cut up their AARP membership cards.
Last week, the AARP, a nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of those aged 50 and over, endorsed the House health care bill. “We can say with confidence that it meets our priorities for protecting Medicare, providing more affordable health insurance for 50- to 64-year-olds and reforming our health care system,” AARP vice president Nancy Leamond said. At a town hall meeting in Arizona on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) vowed to “fight with every fiber of my body” to oppose a similar health care reform bill in the Senate. He then claimed that Medicare will actually be “cut” and reportedly urged the town hall attendees to tear up their AARP membership cards:

The 2,000-page bill would mean more regulation and mandates, he said. People wouldn’t be able to keep the coverage they had. It would also increase taxes and the cost of Medicare, he said.

The bill claims to save $500 billion in waste from Medicare, he said.

“I don’t think so,” McCain said. “I think it’s going to cut it.”

He encouraged audience members to cut up their AARP cards and send them back.
McCain urges town hall attendees to cut up their AARP membership cards.
Last week, the AARP, a nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of those aged 50 and over, endorsed the House health care bill. “We can say with confidence that it meets our priorities for protecting Medicare, providing more affordable health insurance for 50- to 64-year-olds and reforming our health care system,” AARP vice president Nancy Leamond said. At a town hall meeting in Arizona on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) vowed to “fight with every fiber of my body” to oppose a similar health care reform bill in the Senate. He then claimed that Medicare will actually be “cut” and reportedly urged the town hall attendees to tear up their AARP membership cards:

The 2,000-page bill would mean more regulation and mandates, he said. People wouldn’t be able to keep the coverage they had. It would also increase taxes and the cost of Medicare, he said.

The bill claims to save $500 billion in waste from Medicare, he said.

“I don’t think so,” McCain said. “I think it’s going to cut it.”

He encouraged audience members to cut up their AARP cards and send them back.

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Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise.

Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
SeekingFreedom
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Bishops Press Obama to Strike Senate Provision Allowing Federal Abortion Funding

A coalition of Christian leaders -- including New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan -- are putting heat on the White House to strike down any provision in the Senate's health care reform bill that allows abortion coverage in federally subsidized plans.

More than 150 Christian leaders, most of them conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Roman Catholics, issued a joint declaration Friday reaffirming their opposition to abortion and gay marriage and pledging to protect religious freedoms. The 4,700-word document, called "The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience" was unveiled on Capitol Hill during a press conference Friday.

Dolan, who is among 15 Roman Catholic bishops who have signed the document, forcefully opposes overturning the decades-long restriction on federal funding of abortions.

"The archbishop has supported efforts to make certain that abortion is not part of the health care bill," Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the Archdiocese of New York, told FoxNews.com Friday.

Dolan is calling for the "status quo to remain," he said, citing current law known as the Hyde Amendment that restricts government abortion funding.

A top Obama administration official on Thursday praised the new Senate health care bill's attempt to find a compromise on abortion coverage but an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.

The abortion dispute threatens to blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Obama's health care overhaul.

The bishops were instrumental in getting tough anti-abortion language adopted by the House, forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to accept restrictions that outraged liberals as the price for passing the Democratic health care bill. Reid, D-Nev., now faces a similar choice: Ultimately, he will need the votes of Democratic senators who oppose abortion to get his bill through the Senate.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/20/christian-leaders-issue-conscience-pl edging-protect-religious-freedoms/

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raybond
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WE ARE GETTING CLOSER

Historic health care bill nears key Senate vote
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent
2 hrs 44 mins ago

WASHINGTON – In a show of unity, Senate Democrats sealed a 60-vote majority needed to advance health care legislation Saturday ahead of an evening showdown with Republicans eager to doom the bill and inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.

Two final holdouts, Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, announced in speeches a few hours apart on the Senate floor they would vote to clear the way for what is expected to be a bruising, full-scale health care debate after Thanksgiving.

At a 10-year cost approaching $1 trillion, the measure is designed to extend coverage to roughly 31 million who lack it, crack down on insurance company practices that deny benefits, and curtail the growth of spending on medical care nationally.

"It is clear to me that doing nothing is not an option," said Landrieu, who noted the legislation includes $100 million to help her state pay the costs of health care for the poor.

Lincoln, who faces a tough re-election next year, said the evening vote will "mark the beginning of consideration of this bill by the U.S. Senate, not the end."

Both stressed they were not committing in advance to vote for the bill that ultimately emerges from next month's debate. Even so, their announcements marked a major victory for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the White House in a year-end drive to enact the most sweeping changes to the nation's health care system in a half-century or more.

The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance, and large firms would incur large costs if they did not provide it to their workforce.

Congressional budget analysts put the legislation's cost at $979 billion over a decade and said it would reduce deficits over the same period while extending coverage to 94 percent of the eligible population.

The House approved its version of the bill earlier this month on a near party line vote of 220-215.

In hours of debate before the Saturday evening vote, Republicans attacked the legislation as a government takeover of health care and worse.

"Move over, Bernie Madoff. Tip your hat to a trillion-dollar scam," said Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., likening the bill's supporters to the imprisoned investor who fleeced millions.

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said Reid had delayed implementation of many of the bill's key provisions and made it look less costly as a result. He put the true price tag at $2.5 trillion over a decade once implemented.

"Senators who support this bill have a lot of explaining to do," said the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "Americans know that a vote to proceed on this bill is a vote for higher premiums, higher taxes and massive cuts to Medicare. That's a pretty hard thing to justify supporting."

That was a rebuttal to Landrieu and other Democrats who described the evening vote as one of procedure instead of substance.

In her remarks, Landrieu said, "I've decided that there are enough significant reforms and safeguards in this bill to move forward, but much more work needs to be done." She also touted the $100 million included in the legislation to help her state cover its costs under Medicaid, the state-federal health care program for the poor.

"I'm proud to have fought for it. And I will continue to," she said.

Reid worked for weeks drafting the legislation, a blend of bills approved earlier by two committees with new provisions designed to straddle the ideological divide among Senate Democrats.

Among the most controversial is a requirement for the government to sell insurance in competition with private industry, unless individual states opt out.

Landrieu, Lincoln and other Democrats have expressed unease about it, and attempts to modify the so-called public option are certain once debate begins in earnest. One possibility would require the federal government stay out of the insurance business unless there was a shortage of competition or affordable coverage offered by private companies.

At its core, the legislation would create insurance exchanges beginning in 2014 where individuals, most of them lower income and uninsured, would shop for coverage. The bill sets aside hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits to help those earning up to 400 percent of poverty, $88,200 for a family of four.

Additional funds would be available to help small businesses defray the cost of providing coverage to their employees.

The insurance industry would come under significant new regulation under the bill, which would first ease and then ban the practice of denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. Beginning in 2014, there would be no limits on lifetime coverage. Effective immediately, children could remain on their parents' insurance policies until age 26, three years longer than under current law, another attempt to cut into the ranks of the uninsured.

Individuals would be required to purchase coverage or pay a fine, unless affordable coverage was not available. Larger employers would not be required to provide coverage, but would face penalties if they did not and any of their workers received federal subsidies to buy individual coverage.

To finance the expanded coverage, Reid proposed higher taxes as well as cuts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in projected Medicare payments. Hardest hit would be the private insurance Medicare plans, although providers such as home health agencies would also receive significantly less in future years than now estimated.

The bill raises payroll taxes on incomes over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Reid eased the impact of an earlier proposal to tax high-value insurance plans, which has emerged as one of the principal methods for restraining the growth in health costs.

The bill includes tax increases on insurance companies, medical device makers, patients electing to undergo cosmetic surgery and drugmakers.

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Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

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