Senate Finance Comm. Rejects Abortion Coverage Restrictions; House Abortion Debate Continues

October 1, 2009 — The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday voted 10-13 to defeat an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that said no money included in the panel's draft health reform bill could be used to pay "any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion," with a few exceptions, the New York Times reports. The amendment would have required insurers to offer "a separate supplemental policy" to cover abortion services, which would have been funded "solely by supplemental premiums paid by individuals choosing to purchase the policy." Currently, the bill prohibits federal funds from being used to pay for abortion services in plans participating in the health insurance exchange. However, private insurers participating in the exchange can cover the procedure if it is paid for with a portion of private premiums kept in separate accounts.

The panel voted largely along party lines. The two exceptions were Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who voted in favor of the amendment, and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who voted against it. Panel members who opposed the Hatch amendment said their aim is to maintain the status quo (Pear, New York Times, 10/1). Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who voted against the amendment, called it "offensive" to women and "an unprecedented restriction on people who pay for their own health care insurance" (Haberkorn, Washington Times, 9/30). She said that it was unrealistic to think that women would purchase supplemental insurance to cover abortion services for unintended pregnancies, adding that women do not sit around thinking, "Maybe someday I will have an unintended pregnancy" (New York Times, 10/1). Snowe said the amendment would create privacy issues by asking women to anticipate their need for abortion coverage. Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said the amendment would be "discriminating against women" (Young, "Briefing Room," The Hill, 9/30).

The committee also voted 10-13 to reject Hatch's effort to add additional "conscience" language to the bill to ban any local government, agency or health plan from discriminating against health care providers who refuse to perform abortion procedures. It also would have directed the HHS Office of Civil Rights to record and investigate discrimination complaints (Washington Times, 9/30).

Baucus Hopes To Move Bill to Floor

According to the Washington Post, Baucus said he and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the committee's ranking Republican, plan to complete the bill markup by Friday. Baucus said the panel has enough votes to pass the measure and send it to the full Senate. However, the committee vote will likely be delayed one week so Congressional Budget Office analysts have enough time to assess how amendments will affect the bill's cost, aides said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the committee's bill will likely be the foundation for the Senate version of health reform legislation that he hopes to start drafting next week. Reid said the bill will likely be on the floor of the Senate shortly after Columbus Day (Montgomery/Connolly, Washington Post, 10/1).

House Dems Clash Over Further Compromises

Meanwhile, House Democrats continue to debate whether new abortion provisions should be added to the House health reform bill (HR 3200), CongressDaily reports. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), co-chair of the 190-member Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said the caucus decided during a meeting Wednesday that it would not agree to additional abortion provisions beyond Rep. Lois Capps' (D-Calif.) amendment to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's version of the bill. DeGette said abortion-rights advocates "compromised enough by agreeing to an amendment." The amendment requires health insurance exchanges to offer at least one plan that covers abortion and at least one plan that does not. It also states that the government cannot require public health insurance plans to either restrict or require abortion coverage.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who is leading House antiabortion-rights efforts to add more restrictions, said he met this week with Energy and Commerce Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) to try to negotiate a compromise proposal that would appease antiabortion-rights lawmakers. According to Stupak, the negotiations will continue in the coming weeks and include other Energy and Commerce Democrats on both sides. If an agreement is not reached before the House bill emerges from the chamber's Rules Committee, Stupak said he will insist on a floor vote on his preferred amendment -- a measure modeled on the Hyde Amendment's prohibition on federal funding for abortion (Hunt/House, CongressDaily, 10/1).