Talking Points
Government Funding of Abortion

 If the Senate healthcare bill, as it currently stands, passes both the Senate and the House, it will be the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.

• Legislators must vote against any procedure or bill that does not include language identical to the Stupak Amendment, which prevents the government from funding abortion.
• Abortion is not healthcare, as the abortion industry would like Americans to believe, and it should not be mandated under any health insurance plan, especially one that Americans will be forced to subsidize.

 Government-Run Health Care = a bailout of the abortion industry, mandated government-funded abortion, and forcing Americans to subsidize abortions.

• Americans don’t want this. Recent national polls have all showed Americans don’t support government-funded abortions by wide margins, over 70%.
• The federal government would subsidize the purchase of private health plans that cover elective abortion on demand — departing from decades of federal policy, under which health plans that cover elective abortions (for example, those covering federal employees) are not eligible for federal subsidies.

 The Stupak amendment does not change the status quo on abortion funding through the government; it IS the status quo. It mirrors the Hyde amendment which prevents the government from funding elective abortion.

• Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid has sought to please the abortion industry that demands funding of abortion through federal programs, even though substantial majorities of Americans believe that abortion should be excluded from government-funded and government-sponsored health programs.  

 For more excellent analysis and background of the Stupak amendment and the current healthcare bills, please see the webpages of National Right to Life or the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.