Nancy Pelosi: “I rise in support of the Hoyer amendment striking provisions which restrict funding for abortion coverage for the…”

“I rise in support of the Hoyer amendment striking provisions which restrict funding for abortion coverage for the Federal employee health benefit plan. This language in the bill makes second class citizens of our Federal employees. I am going to submit my original statement for the record and address a couple of the points made by our colleagues in the course of the debate. This debate is not about abortion on demand. I do not know one Member of this body who supports abortion on demand. Second, when our colleagues on the other side say that this is about stopping a taxpayer subsidy of abortion because of the contribution that the Federal Government makes to the health care plan, I want to remind our colleagues that the Federal Government subsidizes every employer basic health care plan in America because it is a business expense for private employers. What is next? Do we move next from preventing Federal employees from having a right to full reproductive freedoms in their health care plan to preventing every working woman in America from having access to reproductive freedom because the argument will be made that the Federal Government is subsidizing it by giving a tax deduction to her employer. I urge my colleagues to support the Hoyer amendment.”