Rep. Tom Perriello said Tuesday that health-care legislation pending in Congress would not use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion.
Perriello, D-5th District, said he could support the Senate-passed bill’s abortion language, but he wasn’t yet ready to vote for the bill.
“The existing language on abortion in the current Senate bill meets the pledge I made to ensure no federal funding for abortion,” Perriello said Tuesday.
Two university professors in Virginia gave opposing views on whether Perriello was right. Two Catholic organizations also disagreed on whether the Senate’s 2,000-pages-plus health care bill funds abortion.
“There is no question in my mind that the Senate bill does fund abortion,” said Mat Staver, dean of the Liberty University School of Law.
The Senate voted 54-45 against an amendment that would have prohibited abortion funding, Staver said. President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also don’t want to prohibit the funding, Staver said.
At the Washington and Lee University School of Law, Professor Timothy Jost said, “The Senate bill does not provide funding for abortion; it explicitly says it does not.”
Misinformation is being spread about the bill, Jost said. “One argument is that it provides funding for community health centers” that can perform abortions, Jost said.
“Community health centers have never provided abortions,” Jost said. “That is just a red herring.”
Andy Sere of the National Republican Congressional Committee said pro-choice members of Congress have not lined up to oppose the Senate bill.
“If this was truly a pro-life bill, you would see people on the other side saying they are not going to vote for it,” Sere said.
In his statement, Perriello, who is Catholic, cited two Catholic-related sources and a group of pro-life leaders who said the Senate bill would not fund abortions.
The Catholic Health Association said in its online magazine that anyone who bought a health-insurance policy that covered abortions would have to pay for that coverage with their personal funds, and insurance companies would be audited to be sure “no federal dollars are used.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed a different view.
“The Senate bill … expands federal funding and the role of the federal government in the provision of abortion procedures,” the bishops’ group said Tuesday.
Perriello’s statement said, in part:
“Since the beginning of the debate on health care reform, I have maintained a pledge that I would not support any health care reform bill that includes federal funding for abortion, and I stand by that pledge today.
“I have plenty of serious problems with the Senate bill and, until I see the final language, I cannot take a position on final passage.
“But the existing language on abortion in the current Senate bill meets the pledge I made to ensure no federal funding for abortion in this health care bill,” Perriello said.
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