Letter to the President

I just sent a letter to President Obama via Susan B. Anthony List. In the letter are the facts concerning the funding of abortion in the current congressional health care bill. Because this form letter has such good information, I posted it here for you to read. If you would like to send a letter to the President demanding the truth be told, you may write your own or go to http://www.sba-list.org/obama.

Dear President Obama,

As one of your constituents, I am disappointed that you have chosen to mislead the American people in regard to abortion funding in the health care bill.

On August 19th, you stated: “You've heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion. Not true. This is all, these are all fabrications that have been put out there. . .”

President Obama, you are misleading the American people. Here are the facts:

The Capps Amendment, as passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, explicitly requires every enrollee of a government-subsidized health insurance plan to be charged an extra fee to cover abortions. The federal agency administering the health care plan will collect the premium money, receive bills from abortionists, and send the abortionists payment checks from the federal Treasury account.

In response, many pro-abortion politicians are hiding behind the Hyde Amendment, but the truth is the Hyde Amendment does not apply because federal subsidies for private plans and start up money for the public plan are directly appropriated under H.R. 3200.

Therefore, I demand that you oppose any health care bill unless abortion is explicitly excluded from the scope of any federally mandated, federally subsidized, or federally defined health insurance plans.

President Obama, my concerns are not fabrications, they are facts. They are facts that even the mainstream media confirms. Consider these quotes:

“The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the federal government's role in the financing of abortions. […] So in effect, anyone who wanted to sign up for the public option, a federally funded and administered program, would find themselves paying for abortion coverage. […] Nonetheless, the new system differs markedly from the old federal policy of not involving the government in abortion services unless issues of rape, incest or the life of the mother are at play.” - TIME, August 24, 2009, “How Abortion Could Imperil Health Care Reform.”

“Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions, a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue.” -The Associated Press, August 5, 2009, “Gov’t Insurance Would Allow Coverage for Abortion.”

“Obama has said in the past that ‘reproductive services’ would be covered by his public plan, so it’s likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that… Therefore, we judge that the president goes too far when he calls the statements that government would be funding abortions ‘fabrications.’”-Factcheck.org, August 21, 2009, “Abortion: Which Side is Fabricating?”

President Obama, the current health care reform proposals, if enacted, would result in the greatest expansion of abortion since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision imposed abortion on America in 1973.

Polls consistently show that the overwhelming majority of Americans are pro-life. Abortion must be explicitly excluded to ensure the pro-life views of Americans are properly reflected in any health care reform effort.

Susan B. Anthony List Activist