According to National Right to Life, the Obama administration has approved $160 million in federal tax dollars to Pennsylvania, with the only restriction that it not pay for abortions prohibited by existing state law. Which means, in short, that abortions for any reason other than “It’s a girl!” are permissible. The Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Joel Ario, claims that it won’t cover “elective abortions,” but that’s a loophole so big a truck can drive through it: any abortionist will claim that if the woman (any woman) doesn’t have the abortion, she’ll suffer physical and emotional harm. From a pro-choice perspective, there’s (ironically) no “elective abortions.”
That it’ll begin in Pennsylvania is darkly ironic, since the state was once the best hope of redemption for the Democratic Party. Bob Casey, Sr., was a brilliant Democratic governor, liberal on issues like unions and labor rights, but deeply and fervently pro-life. He was slated to speak at the 1992 Democratic Convention in support of pro-life Democrats, but front-runner Bill Clinton forced him out, in an ominous portent that the Democratic Party felt no need to even pretend to accept pro-lifers anymore. Casey’s son is an utter disappointment who parades as a pro-lifer while opposing the Mexico City policy (the only thing which kept us from paying for abortions abroad).
Well, now we’re going to be paying for them here, too. You can read about it here or here. Speaking of disappointments on the pro-life left, James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal suggests naming the Pennsylvania program the “Bart Stupak Insurance Pool.” It’s gallows humor, to be sure, but fitting: where is Stupak’s outrage over this? If he, and the dozen other “pro-life” Dems actually believed Obama, this is the point were they should be publicly outraged he lied to their faces. The same goes for all those Catholics (like the Catholic Health Association) who promised that this day would never come. Were they conning us, or conned themselves?
UPDATE: Great news! In the face of public outcry, the Obama Administration reversed course, and will now not pay for abortion! Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
Even if Obama’s HHS writes a policy saying that abortions won’t be covered under the Preexisting Conditions Insurance Program, there is no federal law preventing the PCIP from paying for abortions. The first claim for abortion services that is denied by PCIP will be challenged in court by pro-abortion advocates and the courts will decide whether or not the program will pay for abortions.