From http://lifenews.com/nat5378.html
President Barack Obama: "Fabrication" to Say Health Care Bills Fund Abortions
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 20, 2009
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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a late Wednesday conference call with several left-wing faith groups that supported his presidential bid, President Barack Obama claimed it is a "fabrication" and "distraction" to say abortion funding is included in the health care reform plans pending in Congress.
He said it is false to suggest that the government-run health care plan he favors would result in "government funding of abortions," and that this is "untrue."
Several pro-life organizations were quick to pick up on the comments and expose how the health care bills could result in the greatest expansion of abortion funding since the 1970s.
"Obama deliberately misled the American people by dismissing the concerns of millions of Americans who have deep moral objections to their tax dollars paying for abortions," Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said. "With this President, you must look at his actions because his rhetoric doesn't match his deeds."
Perkins said Obama "knows very well that pro-abortion House and Senate Committees rejected every single amendment to keep abortion funding out of the health care overhaul."
"Instead, the House Energy and Commerce Committee adopted the Capps Amendment, which allows abortion coverage in the public health plan, and subsidizes health plans that cover abortion," he added.
Perkins told LifeNews.com if objections to the taxpayer-financed abortions in the health care bill are a "distraction" that Obama should end it by calling on Congress to amend the bills so they result in no abortion funding.
Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee also condemned Obama comments, saying he "brazenly misrepresented the abortion-related component of the health care legislation that his congressional allies and staff have crafted."
Johnson also cited the Capps amendment and said it made it so HR 3200 "explicitly authorizes the government plan to cover all elective abortions."
"Obama apparently seeks to hide behind a technical distinction between tax funds and government-collected premiums. But these are merely two types of public funds, collected and spent by government agencies," he explained.
"The Obama-backed legislation makes it explicitly clear that no citizen would be allowed to enroll in the government plan unless he or she is willing to give the federal agency an extra amount calculated to cover the cost of all elective abortions -- this would not be optional," Johnson told LifeNews.com. "The abortionists would bill the federal government and would be paid by the federal government. These are public funds, and this is government funding of abortion."
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the pro-life women's group Susan B. Anthony List, also emailed LifeNews.com about Obama's remarks.
"“Public support for abortion is on decline, and the President knows that openly advancing an abortion mandate in health care reform is unpopular with the American people. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Obama’s statements conflict with the proposed legislation," she said.
She concluded: "Americans demand an explicit exclusion of abortion coverage, not more obfuscation and confusion from the President and his allies.”
Related web sites:
National Right to Life - http://www.nrlc.org
Family Research Council - http://www.frc.org
Susan B. Anthony List - http://www.sba-list.org
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