On the recordMarch 18, 2010
I do appreciate my friend across the aisle earlier saying that all lies and distortion must stop, and I am glad that he has finally agreed with us on that proposition. It is important, because, for one thing, people have been misled about what this bill does and doesn't do. I heard one of my friends across the aisle yesterday saying, Gee, great news. I've got 25 names of religious leaders who are pro-life who have now taken a look, and they've said this is okay. As a pro-life person, I don't believe this changes existing law. They look at page 119, and they see under subparagraph capital B, little I: Abortions for which public funding is prohibited. The services described in this clause are abortions for which the expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for the Department of Health and Human Services is not permitted, and based on the law as in effect as of the date that is 6 months before the beginning of the plan year involved. So they look at that and say, Oh, okay, that doesn't change existing law. That's great. And they don't look over to page 124 that says, Under this bill you have to provide insurance policies that will actually cover--it says here--there is at least one plan that provides coverage of services described in clause little I of subparagraph B. That's the one that says you can't use Federal funds to pay for abortion.
