Pro-Life Leaders Warn Obama Still Not Honest About Health Care Abortion Funding

by Kathleen Gilbert, www.LifeSiteNews.com

President Obama told a joint session of Congress last night that "no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions" in his proposed health care overhaul. Pro-life leaders across America, however, immediately slammed the claim, pointing to the testimony of independent analysts who have asserted that the current legislation will in fact open government funds to abortion.

Obama stated in his address to Congress Wednesday night: "One more misunderstanding I want to clear up - under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."

Last month, Obama had similarly dismissed the abortion debate by telling faith leaders in a conference call that it was a "fabrication" that the health care legislation involved "government funding of abortions."

In response, National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) legislative director Douglas Johnson noted that the wording of Obama's statement allowed him to dispense with the abortion opposition without admitting the actual expansion of abortion in the bill. "Obama apparently seeks to hide behind a technical distinction between tax funds and government-collected premiums," said Johnson. "These are merely two types of public funds, collected and spent by government agencies."

He continued: "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. 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."

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