Democrats agree to broad anti-abortion amendment

[IndianaGreen]

US House passes health care bill

Democrats agree to broad anti-abortion amendment

By Kate Randall
9 November 2009

The House of Representatives narrowly passed legislation on Saturday to overhaul the US health care system, with the inclusion of an amendment that imposes strict bans on the use of federal funds to finance abortion. The bill must be reconciled with legislation still being finalized in the Senate before it can be signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The bill is the result of months of backroom deals between the Obama administration, Congressional figures and representatives of the health care industry lobby. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the total cost of the House plan at $1.055 trillion over a decade, with a net cost of $894 billion after taking into account certain revenues.

The CBO also projects that the bill would lower the federal deficit by $104 billion by 2019. These savings would come mainly through deep cuts to federal programs, particularly to Medicare. The bill also includes a mandate that individuals and families obtain insurance or pay a penalty, guaranteeing that billions of dollars are funneled to the insurance companies in the form of new, cash-paying customers.

The legislation includes a watered-down version of a “public option” available for purchase alongside private insurance plans on an insurance exchange. Unlike under Medicare, where the government sets rates for payments to health care providers, the secretary of health and human services would have to negotiate rates for payments to hospitals and doctors.

The legislation passed the House in a 220 to 215 vote, only two votes more than needed for a majority, gaining the support of 219 Democrats and only one Republican. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against it.

In the end, the majority for passage was only achieved by adoption of an amendment to the bill put forward by anti-abortion Democrats and their Republican supporters that imposes strict bans on the use of federal funds to finance abortion, a medical procedure legalized nationally by the 1973 US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. The amendment was approved by 240 votes to 194, with 64 Democrats joining the near-unanimous Republican bloc in favor.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/nov2009/heal-n09.shtml

[Bitwit1234]

1. Why don't we do this

If a woman is denied an abortion, she names the father. Then by law we will preform a vasectomy/or cut off the reproductive organ and that way he can't father any more unwanted children. How do you think the men in congress would handle that.

[Demeter]

2. I'll Name Tony Scalia

that would put a quick stop to this nonsense