Dan Coats: “let me just state, during our discussion last Thursday on this amendment, which I will describe in a moment, questions…”

“let me just state, during our discussion last Thursday on this amendment, which I will describe in a moment, questions were raised by the Senator from Maine relative to some language and the interpretation of that language as it affected a portion of the bill providing for an exemption to the accreditation standards based on a conscience or moral clause relative to performing abortion. We have discussed that question over the weekend and made some clarifications in that language, which is the purpose of the modification. The Senator from Maine spoke this morning and the Senator from Tennessee spoke, relative to the procedures of the Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education, its involvement in accrediting medical providers and medical training programs, and support for the Coats amendment to this particular bill. Let me describe that very briefly. The problem that we had here is that, prior to 1996, the ACGME, which is the American Council on Graduate Medical Education, did not require hospitals or ob/gyn residency programs to perform induced abortions or train to perform induced abortions.”