Wednesday, December 17, 2014

ObamaCare: What's An American To Do? (Part 3 - Abortion)


Do you doubt that ObamaCare funds abortions? Do you deny that it does?

First, in order to wrap your head around the likelihood that ObamaCare might fund abortions, you must consider the source:

* Obama supports unrestricted access to abortion for any reason, for the full nine months, up to the moment of delivery, and even supports infanticide. As an Illinois state senator, Obama voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, three times. This act would have provided the same legal rights to the care of an infant who survives an abortion as it would to any other infant born alive. Obama's position was that once a mother decides to have an abortion, the baby should end up dead, even if it survives the abortion. He felt strongly enough about the act to speak against it, and was the only senate member to do so. In the years that followed, he lied about his voting record repeatedly, attempting to conceal his standing as the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States from the pro-life majority of Americans. How did Obama respond when the truth of his voting record gained traction? He angrily accused pro-life organizations of lying.

* Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the nation.
* Planned Parenthood is the number one killer of black lives in the United States.
* In the history of Planned Parenthood, they have endorsed only two presidential candidates. Obama was one of them.
* Obama promised "reproductive care" (including abortion) would be "at the center, the heart" of ObamaCare.
* Obama is dedicated to taxpayer funding of abortion via Planned Parenthood.
* Obama reversed a ban on taxpayer dollars funding overseas abortion providers.
* Obama voted against parental notification for minors, including crossing state lines to get an abortion.
* Obama told Planned Parenthood the "right to choose" is a constitutional right.
* Obama lends full support to Planned Parenthood, the organization with a history of considering pregnancy a sexually transmitted disease.
* Obama received a 100% rating on abortion by the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL).
* Obama supports partial birth abortion and opposed a ban on it.
* Obama called a baby that survives an abortion a "fetus outside of the mother's womb" to justify denying it medical attention and leaving it to die.
* Obama said if his daughters make a mistake by getting pregnant, he doesn't want them "punished with a baby." He was publicly and brazenly advocating the murder of his own grandchildren.
* Obama addressed Planned Parenthood as the first sitting president to address the abortion-rights group in person, and promised them he'd be, "right there with you, fighting every step of the way," and even said "God bless you" to them at the end of his speech.

Therefore, understanding how passionately Obama feels about a woman's "right" to kill her unborn child, even to the extreme of his own daughter murdering his own grandchild, does it make sense that he would then leave out protection for, and funding of, abortion in his signature legislation?

No it doesn't. And he didn't.

It was clear, very early on, that he would find a way.

How did Obama include abortion in ObamaCare?

One of the legal requirements of ObamaCare is that insurance companies make "contraceptives" available to their employees at no charge. This, by itself, is very telling. Americans are required to contribute copays for almost every other prescription under the sun, yet not a penny for contraceptives. So, what makes these contraceptives so special to Obama as to warrant such unique consideration?

Define the terms.

Pregnant, abortion, contraceptive... these words are tossed about as if everyone agrees on their meanings, but how they are applied can depend on which side of the issue the user is on:

Pregnant.
Containing a developing embryo, fetus, or unborn offspring within the body. Sounds simple enough, right? Developing within. A woman can be pregnant weeks before she knows it. The developing embryo must implant into the womb before she misses her first period, and the egg must be fertilized before it can begin developing as an embryo. So when does an egg begin developing? At the moment of conception. The fertilized egg contains 100% of the DNA of a unique human being. Moral relativists may weary themselves and everyone else by arguing about whether or not human life begins at conception but, scientifically, that fact is not under dispute.

Abortion
.
The termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus. Death of a developing embryo. Abortion can refer to a surgical procedure performed by a doctor in a clinic or hospital. But a woman can induce her own abortion in pill form, under a doctor's supervision. RU-486, also known as the abortion pill, causes uterine contractions designed to expel an implanted, developing embryo up to 49 days gestation. It is not listed as an approved contraceptive under ObamaCare.

Contraceptive.
The deliberate prevention of conception or impregnation. A method or device that interferes with ovulation, fertilization, and implantation.

Obama's choice for HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, assured Americans that ObamaCare would cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception.  RU-486 is not on that list, so abortion advocates argue that ObamaCare does not cover abortion-causing pills. However, among these FDA-approved forms is the category of "emergency contraceptives." These can be pills (such as Plan B, Next Choice, and ella;) or IUDs (such as copper Paragard, or hormonal Mirena or Skyla). Unlike contraceptives which are taken before intercourse, emergency contraceptive pills are taken, or IUDs can be inserted, after the fact. Planned Parenthood calls an IUD "the most effective EC there is." Proponents insist they do not end pregnancy, but instead prevent it before it starts. How do they work? According to the FDA itself, they work by preventing attachment (implantation) to the womb. The hormones in the pills chemically alter the surface of the uterus, and IUDs thin the lining of the uterus, making it hostile to the reception of a fertilized egg. That is, the purpose of an EC is to prevent a fertilized egg from doing what God intended it to do. They are designed to guarantee the already developing embryo can never implant and will therefore die. Even so, "reproductive health experts" will assure you these methods do not cause an abortion, because they limit the definition of pregnancy as implantation already having occurred. But even that is no excuse in the case of ella. Ella does not work the same way as Plan B or Next Choice or an IUD. Ella does not prevent ovulation or implantation - it actually starves an already implanted embryo of the nutrition it needs. Ella is an abortion pill, even if the FDA will not identify it as such. Emergency contraceptives, as mandated under ObamaCare, are abortion-causing drugs.

The entire basis of the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Supreme Court case was ObamaCare's fight to protect its contraceptive mandate, forcing employers to provide no-cost access to "abortion-causing drugs" (in addition to contraceptives and sterilization), even if it violated the religious convictions of the employer.

ObamaCare lost
.

Do you think that's just splitting hairs over contraceptives?

Ok then, what about actual abortions...

Despite promising transparency, ObamaCare has delivered quite the opposite regarding abortion coverage.

The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, forbids federal funds from being used for abortions, and legally ObamaCare cannot require any plan to cover abortion, which is one reason RU-486 ("the abortion pill") is not part of the contraception mandate. However, there are many back doors Obama uses to circumvent the Hyde Amendment and force Americans to pay for abortion indirectly:

Subsidies.
The federal government offers subsidies (tax credits) to make ObamaCare more affordable, and many residents in many states qualify for these subsidies. States are allowed to decide whether or not they will offer plans which cover abortion. If a state votes to allow abortion coverage, their residents may buy these plans. Therefore, a major conflict arises under ObamaCare, because state residents can receive federal subsidies for buying an insurance plan which covers abortion. That means if someone buys abortion coverage in California (a state that allows abortion coverage), the federal government can redistribute your tax dollars from Virginia (which does not allow abortion coverage) to reimburse them. In 2011 and 2014, the House passed bills in an effort to close the subsidies loophole, but Democrats opposed it, saying it wasn't needed.

Surcharge.
Under ObamaCare, federal law requires state insurance plans that cover abortion to collect a separate surcharge which, in turn, would be used to pay abortion providers. So, if you buy a plan that covers abortion, you must pay at least $1 of your premium toward someone else's abortion. Using an accounting gimmick to call it a separate surcharge does not negate the face that the federal government is forcing over 1,000 plans to partly fund abortion. Do you think $1 is an insignificant amount of money to fuss over? If so, then you need to look at some math to see how many abortions these surcharges are advancing. And, as to what type of abortions are included (rape, incest, or purely by choice), we have no way of knowing. Nowhere does HHS mention any restrictions on the type of abortions these surcharges fund.

Silence.
ObamaCare requires that state exchanges must offer at least one plan* which excludes abortion coverage, however, you have no way of knowing which plan that might be. In March 2012, ObamaCare issued a gag rule forbidding plans which cover abortion from disclosing that fact before you enroll. The HHS rule says the information can only be disclosed as part of the summary of benefits you receive after you enroll. So, signing up with an exchange means you play Russian roulette with your "choices," with the distinct likelihood you will end up paying for an abortion-covering policy whether you want to or not.
*Despite the requirement above to offer one plan that excludes abortion coverage, every single plan in the following exchanges covered abortion in 2014: New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Hawaii. The federal government forced those residents to pay for abortion. For 2015 the list still includes New Jersey, Rhode Island and Hawaii.

Secrecy.
There is yet another rule trying to emerge from the ObamaCare bag of tricks. In the future, the only thing insurers would have to do is inform you that the abortion surcharge exists on your plan (in small print, after you enroll) but after that point there would be no more accounting gimmicks to keep the surcharge separate, or reminders that you're paying it. The mention of it will be so insignificant, you'll probably have no idea you're paying for abortions every single month, for years on end.

How convenient.

Fortunately, the pro-life community has been hard at work, bringing transparency where ObamaCare has brought total confusion. Here is a great interactive map which lets you know where your state exchanges stand with regard to abortion coverage.

As a stalwart champion of "women's rights" and "reproductive health care," you'd think Obama would be proud to make transparency in abortion coverage a very easy thing. But, openness and honesty is not Obama's priority. Abortion is.

Abortion is the sacrament of the Left.

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