Deadly Shell Game: Government Insurance Will Cover Abortion

'We want to see people who have no health insurance get it, but this is a sticking point...' (Richard Doerflinger)

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) - Most of the people reading this article have experienced the "con" at a carnival, a fair or in the Streets of many major cities. It has been around since the Middle Ages and is usually called the "Shell Game." It makes use of three shells, usually resembling walnuts, and a small pea size ball. The gamesman places the ball under a shell and shuffles them around. Then, he invites the observers ("the marks") to make a wager as to which shell the ball is under.

Sometimes, people are strategically placed in the crowd as a part of the con in order to increase participation, drive up the wagers, confuse the participants or deflect attention from the slight of hand being perpetrated by the operator. In some instances, they are pickpockets who, while the unwary participant is suitably distracted, reach in and take his wallet.

Well, it appears that a huge "Shell Game" is about to be played in "National Health Care Reform" as it relates to the funding of abortion. Tragically, it will involve more than extracting money from an unwary public if it is not stopped. It will lead to the killing of countless children in the womb by funding abortions with everyone's tax dollars. Those tax payer dollars will, in effect, become "blood money."

Reporter Ricardo Alonsozaldivar of the Associated Press wrote an article on Wednesday entitled "Government insurance would allow coverage for abortion." It appeared all over the internet and in most of the print media. It admitted what so many pro-Life people have all been warning about. However, those who have attempted to call us all paranoid, or seek to lump us all together with various disparaging and intentionally denigrating political labels, have now failed. The truth has been revealed. Here is an excerpt:

"Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions, a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue.

"Federal funds for abortions are now restricted to cases involving rape, incest or danger to the health of the mother. Abortion opponents say those restrictions should carry over to any health insurance sold through a new marketplace envisioned under the legislation, an exchange where people would choose private coverage or the public plan.

"Abortion rights supporters say that would have the effect of denying coverage for abortion to millions of women who now have it through workplace insurance and are expected to join the exchange.

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"Advocates on both sides are preparing for a renewed battle over abortion, which could jeopardize political support for President Barack Obama's health care initiative aimed at covering nearly 50 million uninsured and restraining medical costs.

"We want to see people who have no health insurance get it, but this is a sticking point," said Richard Doerflinger, associate director of pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "We don't want health care reform to be the vehicle for mandating abortion."

"Donna Crane, policy director for NARAL Pro-Choice America, said abortion opponents "want an abortion ban in private insurance, and that's not neutrality at all--that's a radical departure from current law. They want something far more extreme than where I think the American public is."

"A compromise approved by a House committee last week attempted to balance questions of federal funding, personal choice and the conscience rights of clinicians. It would allow the public plan to cover abortion but without using federal funds, only dollars from beneficiary premiums. Likewise, private plans in the new insurance exchange could opt to cover abortion, but no federal subsidies would be used to pay for the procedure.

"It's a sham," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life. "It's a bookkeeping scheme. The plan pays for abortion, and the government subsidizes the plan."

"Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., author of the compromise, said she was trying to craft a solution that would accommodate both sides. Her amendment also would allow plans that covered no abortions whatsoever--not even in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother--to be offered through the insurance exchange.

"With all due respect, not everyone adheres to what the Catholic bishops believe," said Capps, who supports abortion rights. "Our country allows for both sides, and our health plan should reflect that as well."

"For years, abortion rights supporters and abortion opponents have waged the equivalent of trench warfare over restrictions on federal funding. Abortion opponents have largely prevailed, instituting restrictions that bar federal funding for abortion, except in cases of rape and incest or if the mother's life would be endangered.

"A law called the Hyde amendment applies the restrictions to Medicaid, forcing states that cover abortion for low-income women to do so with their own money. Separate laws apply the restrictions to the federal employee health plan and military and other programs.

"But the health overhaul would create a stream of federal funding not covered by the restrictions.

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"The new federal funds would take the form of subsidies for low- and middle-income people buying coverage through the health insurance exchange. Subsidies would be available for people to buy the public plan or private coverage. Making things more complicated, the federal subsidies would be mixed in with contributions from individuals and employers. Eventually, most Americans could end up getting their coverage through the exchange."

This is a deadly Shell Game. These federal subsidies will fund what is - and not just as a matter of religious belief but in objective reality - the taking of innocent human life in the first home of the whole human race, the womb. The money paying for the killing will be "mixed in"....

It is very clear what is being planned here. Only this time the Federal Government is attempting to hide the ball, the increasingly Pro-life public is being conned, and the Internal Revenue Service is, well, you figure out their role as it relates to our wallets.

We present several related reports underneath this story.

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