Republican Senators Accused Of Banning Abortions Through Healthcare Reform

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are pushing for language in health care reform legislation that would eliminate coverage for abortion services, according to a coalition of religious groups that support abortion rights.

"If this happens, many women could lose coverage for abortion services that their private insurance currently includes. Plus, millions of uninsured women will still lack a basic health care service despite having been promised a better quality of life," says Rev. Carlton Veazey, president and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

The Senate Finance Committee is a key group of senators currently shaping a national healthcare reform package. The committee is led by Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa. Baucus and Grassley are top negotiators for their respective parties on how healthcare reform will eventually look.

"If these senators are allowed to deny coverage of abortion services, the burden will inevitably fall on low-income women and widen the huge gap in health status and access to health care services that reforms are meant to remedy," Veazey says. "Compared to their higher-income counterparts, low-income women are four times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy and five times as likely to have an unintended birth.

"As people of faith, we believe that health care reform should expand coverage to provide for the basic services that every human being deserves; it should not deny essential services to half of the population and aggravate the troubling disparities in health care affecting minorities and low-income individuals," Veazey adds. "For example, compared to her higher-income counterpart, a low-income woman is four times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy and five times as likely to have an unintended birth."

Veazey's organization, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, describes itself as a national interfaith coalition of religious and religiously affiliated organizations from 15 mainstream denominations and traditions.

Basic health care includes abortion services, the organization says. The coalition cites a study by the Guttmacher Institute that finds one in three American women will have an abortion by age 45.

"Reproductive health care, including abortion services, is an essential component of women's health. Women must get a fair shake in the final health care reform bill," Veazey says.

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