Republicans demand HHS issue regulations restricting abortion coverage in high-risk pools

Yesterday, the leader of the Senate Republicans, Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, joined Senator Michael Enzi, Republican from Wyoming and eleven other Republican Senators on a letter regarding federal funding for abortions in the new high-risk established under the health care law. Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi falsely insisted that ObamaCare would not fund abortions with Americans' hard-earned tax dollars and now the truth has been revealed: under ObamaCare, abortions will indeed be funded with American tax dollars in the "high-risk pools" established under the ObamaCare law passed with only Democrat support. Not one Republican Senator nor one Republican Representative voted for this abominable pro-abortion "health-care" law.

Senator McConnell's office said that: "The letter follows the release of a Congressional Research Service report indicating that neither current law (Hyde Amendment), nor the health care law, nor the Executive Order signed by the President, nor HHS' contract solicitation for the high-risk pool program specifically prevent federal funds from being used to finance abortion coverage in state high-risk pools."

Unfortunately, the president presented a bald-faced lie to the pro-life Democrats who were gullible enough to believe and thus voted for the worst piece of legislation in American history; a socialized medicine scheme called ObamaCare. Republicans have vowed to repeal ObamaCare if they gain control of Congress again.

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Senate Republicans on Wednesday called on the Obama administration to "act immediately" to prohibit federally funded state high-risk pools from covering elective abortions.

The request from 13 Republican senators comes after the Congressional Research Service last week said that the high-risk pools would not be prohibited from covering the procedure by the healthcare reform law, the president's executive order that no federal monies would be used to fund abortion or the Hyde amendment.

The Department of Health and Human Services said on July 14, however, that it would be issuing guidance to states restricting abortion coverage.

"Abortions will not be covered in the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) except in cases of rape or incest, or where the life of the woman would be endangered," HHS spokeswoman Jenny Backus said at the time.

But the CRS report, requested by Republicans on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says that statement "is not a formal policy issuance" even if "it is reasonable to conclude that HHS intends on issuing regulations formalizing this stated policy."

In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the senators request that the agency issue such regulations as soon as possible.

"Absent such contractual requirements," they write, "it will be necessary for Congress to modify the current law to include restrictions to prevent federal dollars from being used to provide such coverage. We request that you identify the specific actions and timeline you will take to address these concerns by July 30, 2010."