Abortion Upstages Reform Debate

Pro-choice forces say U.S. Catholic bishops hijacked the House health reform bill, pushing for restrictions on abortion funding even for women with private insurance.

Now the question is will the abortion issue hijack President Obama's reform effort?

Abortion-rights groups are mobilizing after the House narrowly passed a reform bill that restricts insurance coverage for abortions if a woman receives federal health care subsidies. That restriction extends to private insurance plans. Women who receive federal subsidies to buy health insurance would need to buy special riders to cover abortions.

"Such abortion riders do not exist because women do not plan to have unintended pregnancies or medically complicated pregnancies that require ending the pregnancy," says Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "Proposing a separate abortion rider or single-service plan is tantamount to banning abortion coverage since no insurance company would offer such a policy."

The House bill also bans abortion coverage for women covered by a new government health plan, the so-called public option. Most employer-based insurance plans have coverage for abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Richards says she worries that some private plans will drop coverage as a result of the legislation.

Democrats were hoping to neutralize the abortion issue so it wouldn't derail the reform debate. Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an abortion-rights advocate, negotiated with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Friday night before the House took up the bill on Saturday. The full Senate hasn't taken up the bill yet.

The bishops supported the successful amendment to the House bill that restricts the funding of abortions. In exchange, the group gave its endorsement to the legislation, bringing antiabortion Democrats into the fold.

The bishops say the amendment simply upholds a three-decade policy present in Medicaid law: Federally funded abortions will only be performed in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman's life is in danger.

The pro-choice crowd doesn't see it that way.