Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, since 1995, 1.2 million federally employed women of child-bearing age have been denied coverage of abortion services by their own Federal health insurance plans. And that means that all over the United States these Federal employees have been denied a constitutional right to make the critical choices about their own health. More than half of the Federal health insurance plans offered coverage of abortion services before the 1995 ban; and, currently, two-thirds of private health insurance plans provide abortion coverage to their subscribers. The gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and other proponents of this provision argue that the Federal Government is using tax dollars to pay for Federal health insurance plans. We would argue that that is too much of a stretch, because the Federal health insurance plan is one-third of a benefit package that every Federal employee receives in exchange for their employment, for their work. The three benefits that they get are salary, health insurance and retirement benefits. Restricting health care on the basis that it is paid for with taxpayer dollars is the same as specifying how a Federal employee can use their paycheck or their retirement savings. To mandate how they can use that money is like telling them what they can buy when they go shopping. This is money that is their money. They earned it.”