After months of deliberation and debate the Senate Finance Committee finally passed its health care bill on Tuesday. During debates pro-life lobbyists and Senators worked to guarantee that federally funded abortion would not be included in the bill. And despite defeating Sen. Orrin Hatch’s proposed amendment explicitly prohibiting federal funding for abortion, the bill’s supporters claimed it would leave abortion off the table.
Well, they were half-way honest.
The bill does not explicitly provide federal funding for abortions; however it does provide alternative means for low-income families to receive federal subsidies for abortion.
According to the Baptist Press, the bill:
— allows tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies for lower-income people to be used to purchase private insurance plans that cover elective abortions. The bill requires the insurance companies to segregate their internal funds and not use federal dollars to pay for the abortions. Critics call it an accounting gimmick.
— requires that each area of the country provide at least one plan that pays for elective abortions and one plan that does not pay for them.
The bill still has to be combined with the another bill before heading to the Senate floor, but it appears likely that future iterations of the health care bill will demand our tax dollars to support the abortion of unborn children.