President Obama Misled Americans on Using Federal Funds for Abortions

Click Here for Article

July 14, 2010

’This is the boldest admission yet from the Obama administration that the president’s executive order on taxpayer-funded abortion was a sham.'


In spite of President Obama's executive order – that he said would assure that no federal funds would be pay for abortions under the new health care law – the federal government is now paying for abortions.

CitizenLink and its pro-life allies issued repeated warnings about the possibility. Obama took issue with those claims in a 2009 speech to a joint session of Congress:

"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up," he said, "under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions."

But, the Obama Administration is now quietly subsidizing nearly all forms of abortions in Pennsylvania, according to a recently uncovered plan – referred to as the 'Rendell-Sebelius plan' – designed to circumvent public scrutiny and Obama's executive order.

A press release by the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner caught the attention of pro-life groups – not for what was said, but what was left unsaid. The release announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) approved the state's $160 million proposal, which lacked the necessary language restricting abortion for any reason.


Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said: "This is one more illustration that the Obama administration assiduously advances abortion every chance it gets, often behind smokescreens of misleading rhetoric and false assurances."

In exchange for pro-life Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak's support for his health care overhaul bill, President Obama announced on March 20 that he would sign an executive order, which would "keep the principle" of Stupak's amendment that blocked federal funding of abortion.

Michael Geer, executive director for the Pennsylvania Family Institute is calling for answers. "They have some explaining to do now because they felt they had assurances that abortion would not be covered. This shows that it very much is."

Stupak later announced, "I'm pleased to announce that we have an agreement -- with the help of the president and the speaker -- we were able to come up with an agreement to protect the sanctity of life in health care reform."

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said at the time, "While the legislation as written maintains current law, the executive order provides additional safeguards to ensure that the status quo is upheld and enforced, and that the health care legislation's restrictions against the public funding of abortions cannot be circumvented," he said.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R–Ohio, said, "This is the boldest admission yet from the Obama administration that the president's executive order on taxpayer-funded abortion was a sham. The fact that the high-risk pool insurance program in Pennsylvania will use federal taxpayer dollars to fund abortions is unconscionable."

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., the chairman of the Values Action Team, said: "I'm sad to see my own state of Pennsylvania cover abortion through the new high- risk insurance pool. This clearly illustrates the need for strong legislative language to prevent federal funding for abortion coverage. Poll after poll shows that the American people don't want the federal government to subsidize abortion. Governor Rendell and President Obama can't hide the fact that this new plan deeply offends the conscience of millions of Americans."

"We are certainly going to be engaged in letting citizens across the Commonwealth know how their members of Congress voted on Obamacare," said Geer.

"It is incumbent upon those people who are concerned about the sanctity of life to get involved, to make a difference, to vote appropriately, based on what their values are."