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White House Budget Chief Says Issue Of Abortion Coverage In Health Reform Still Under Debate

In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said that he is "not prepared to say explicitly" whether health care reform legislation would prohibit the use of federal tax revenue to fund abortion coverage, the New York Times reports. Orszag"s statement came in reply to a question asking whether he was prepared to say that "no taxpayer money will go to pay for abortions." Orszag said, "It"s obviously a controversial issue, and it"s one of the questions that is playing out in the debate" (Pear/Liptak, New York Times, 7/20).Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who also appeared on "Fox News Sunday," said, "No matter what your views are on abortion, you shouldn"t ask people to use their tax dollars if they think that abortion is taking a life." Gregg added, "I would hate to see the health care debate go down over that issue. We do really need health care reform, and it has to be substantive. ... So hopefully we won"t get ourselves wrapped around the wheel of abortion in this debate" (FoxNews.com, 7/19). According to the Times, there is an ongoing behind-the-scenes debate over handling abortion coverage in health overhaul legislation. The debate affects both the public insurance plan the legislation would create and private insurers, who would receive tens of billions of dollars in federal subsidies to expand coverage for low- and moderate-income U.S. residents. A provision in the House health reform bill (HR 3200) calls for a federal advisory committee to advise the HHS secretary on an "essential benefits package" that most insurers would be required to provide. Abortion-rights opponents want abortion coverage excluded from the package, while abortion-rights advocates say the decision should be left to medical professionals. House committees working on health reform legislation have rejected Republican amendments that would have restricted abortion coverage. The Hyde Amendment, first enacted in 1976, prohibits the use of federal Medicaid money for abortion services. However, abortion-rights opponents argue that federally subsidized coverage of the uninsured would not be subject to the existing restrictions. The National Right to Life Committee issued an analysis of the House bill, stating, "There is no doubt that coverage of abortion will be mandated, unless Congress explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of federal authority to define "essential benefits."" According to the group, even if the HHS secretary did not require abortion coverage, "federal courts would interpret the broadly worded mandatory categories of coverage to include abortion" (New York Times, 7/20).
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Editorial, Opinion Piece Respond To Closure Of Murdered Abortion Provider Tiller's Clinic

Two newspapers recently published an editorial and an opinion piece in reaction to the announcement that murdered Kansas abortion provider George Tiller"s Wichita clinic would be permanently closed. The clinic was one of a handful in the U.S. offering abortion procedures in the second and third trimesters. Summaries appear below.~ Kansas City Star: The closing of Tiller"s clinic is "a tragedy for American democracy," and the "irrational violence" of his death has "trumped public policy," a Star editorial states. "The basis of civilization is that we agree to submit to the rule of law in order for society to flourish," the editorial says, adding that Tiller"s murder is "antithetical to that principle. It is dismaying to see a killer achieve his objective." The editorial notes that Tiller provided abortion services in "tragic cases" involving women "at risk of infertility or death; fetuses with severe abnormalities; and victims of rape and incest." It continues that the "reduction or loss of that service will create hardships and may put women"s lives at risk." Hospitals and doctors who refer such cases to abortion providers "must reassess the circumstances under which they would perform late-term abortions," according to the editorial. In addition, the "medical profession must take a role in training and supporting doctors willing to provide abortions," and the government and local police "must do all they can to protect a legal medical practice," the editorial says. It concludes, "Democracy demands that we not allow murder to make de facto public policy" (Kansas City Star, 6/11).~ Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune: The announcement that Tiller"s clinic will remain permanently closed "was simply more proof that violence and intimidation can get results where civil discourse and political process fail," Tribune columnist Zorn writes. "The question isn"t whether prominent foes of abortion rights are being honest with us when they decry Tiller"s violent death and express regret over the means used to achieve an end they"ve sought," Zorn writes, adding, "Some are, I"m sure." He continues that abortion-rights opponents "recognize that ... a movement calling itself "pro-life"can"t also be pro-murder" and "are politically savvy enough to know that the gains won by terrorist acts are grudging and difficult to sustain." He continues that to "make terrorism less effective, and thereby discourage it," abortion-rights advocates, the medical profession, politicians and law enforcement officials "need to reopen that clinic in Wichita and assure its safe operation ... to defy terrorism, if for no other reason." He concludes that "as long as abortion remains legal, this same coalition needs to strive to expand the number of facilities where it"s available" (Zorn, Chicago Tribune, 6/11).