Associated Press Admits ObamaCare Would Pay for Abortions

Ed Morrissey reports:

A few days ago, the Associated Press issued a “fact check” on the health-care reform package that included a refutation of the idea that the public plan would pay for abortions. After abortion opponents ripped Charles Babington for poor reporting, the AP turned the story over to Ricardo Alfonso Zaldivar, who fact-checked the fact check. Now the AP acknowledges that the public plan would indeed use taxpayer money to pay for abortions...

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In other words, the entire exercise is an end run around the Hyde Amendment. The issue first arose when conservatives noted that abortion did not get mentioned in any of the versions of ObamaCare floating around on Capitol Hill. A lack of restriction on abortion funding would essentially repeal the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. The plan would not have to specifically include abortions, just as plans don’t specifically include any procedures, but would cover any legal medical service and fund it either directly or through subsidies.

Obama and his Congressional allies appear to have found a way to pass the Freedom of Choice Act without having to deal with the political fallout of it, by burying it in ObamaCare. It’s a dishonest approach, especially since the bill’s sponsors won’t openly acknowledge the change...

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