Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) on Thursday morning said passage of a bill limiting federal funding for abortion-related services would be the same as Congress breaking its promise to Americans that they can keep their current healthcare coverage under last year’s healthcare law.
The House is expected to approve H.R. 358 today, which would prevent any program under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) from being used to provide abortion services or fund any health insurance that provides for abortion. Supporters of the bill — more than 140 House Republicans — say this is needed to bring PPACA in line with other federal programs.
But Moore said this change goes against a promise made by Democrats and President Obama that people who like their current coverage can keep it.
“This would mean that millions of women — contrary to what we have promised them through the affordable Care Act, that they would be able to keep coverage they currently have — would actually lose the coverage that they currently have,” Moore said.
Moore added that the bill would endanger women’s lives by shutting off abortion services and even information about these services.
“It’s not hyperbole to say that the provisions of the Pitts bill represent an extreme and callous attack on women’s health,” she said.
Among other things, she said the bill would allow people with tangential relationships to health providers, such as receptionists, to refuse services to people seeking abortions. She said it would also allow hospitals to deny coverage.
“Hospitals would no longer be forbidden from abandoning patients on the doorstep of emergency rooms and providing treatment to at least stabilize the medical condition of such patients,” she said.