Barry, unfortunately President Obama squandered a prime-time audience and a Congressional address to do very little to move the ball forward regarding efforts to reform our health care system. 

President Obama is losing support with the American people on this issue.  And, after his address I can see why.

In fact, I would argue that the President drew more lines in the sand – dividing Americans – especially pro-life Americans who don’t want abortion services mandated as part of some kind of health care ‘benefit.’

Sure, President Obama said: “one more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” 

That’s not the real story.  Under the various health care plans currently being debated in the House and Senate, many types of abortions are covered and the Health and Human Services Secretary has the option to use federal taxpayer dollars to fund plans that pay for so-called “elective” abortions, also known as abortion on demand.  

In government option health care plans on the table now, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a well-known pro-abortion advocate, will have the power to use federal tax dollars to fund plans that cover abortion on demand.

President Obama did nothing to alleviate the growing concern about turning health care into a government-run bureaucracy that will include an open door for transforming abortion into a mandatory health benefit.  The fact is that a specific exemption must be included in the current legislative proposals to prohibit any mandate for abortion services in health care reform and to prohibit federal dollars from funding plans that include abortion services.  And, without such an exemption, there’s a green light in place for making abortion services a mandatory health benefit funded by federal tax dollars. 

This is an unacceptable alternative that the American people do not want and that needs to be rejected by Congress.

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