For immediate release: For more information:

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 Federal Legislation Department, (202) 626-8820

3:00 p.m. EST legfederal@aol.com

NRLC RELEASES UPDATED MEMO ON OBAMA-BACKED SENATE PROVISION TO PROVIDE BILLIONS FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS WITH NO ABORTION RESTRICTION

WASHINGTON --  As explained in a February 22 release from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), posted here, the Senate-passed health bill (H.R. 3590) contains multiple pro-abortion provisions, none of which would be corrected by the changes proposed by President Obama this week, and which in total constitute the biggest proposed expansion of abortion to come before either house of Congress for a vote since Roe v. Wade.

Today, NRLC released an updated memorandum on one of these issues -- a provision that would provide a new pool of billions of dollars in federal funds that could be used directly to pay for abortion, without restriction, in Community Health Centers (CHCs).  The new memo can be viewed in a web browser here, and viewed or downloaded in PDF format here.

This particular problem was created by language that was added to the Senate bill by the last-minute Reid Manager's Amendment, to provide CHCs with $7 billion in federal funds, with nothing to prevent CHCs from using these funds to perform abortions.  As the NRLC memo documents, two pro-abortion groups already have projects underway to encourage CHCs to provide abortions.  (The CHC problem is entirely unrelated to other objectionable language in the bill associated with Sen. Ben Nelson.)

In his February 22 list of proposed changes to the Senate-passed bill, President Obama included a proposed increase in the CHC funding from the Senate-approved $7 billion to $11 billion -- still without any restriction on the use of the funds for abortion. 

Earlier today (February 24), Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mi.) was asked about this specific provision during an interview on Fox News Network; he declared that it is "unacceptable," and also condemned other abortion-related provisions of the Senate-passed bill.   The video of the interview with Mr. Stupak is posted here. 

For further information, contact the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at 202-626-8820 or Legfederal@aol.com.

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