President Obama and abortion advocates in the Senate plan to remove pro-life language in the healthcare reform bill that passed the House on November 7. Their guns are aimed at the Stupak Amendment, a measure that ensures taxpayers' money will not fund abortions.

The amendment prohibits insurance plans in the socialized exchange set up by Obamacare from covering abortion. Advocates of the amendment say it merely maintains the status quo begun by the Hyde Amendment, a rider renewed annually since 1976 as part of a federal spending bill. The Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion. Opponents claim the Stupak Amendment goes farther than that, limiting women's "reproductive choices" by forcing individuals enrolled in the government plan to purchase separate out-of-pocket abortion coverage.

White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod says Obama opposes the Stupak Amendment for this reason. "The president has said repeatedly... that he doesn't believe that this bill should change the status quo as it relates to the issue of abortion," said Axelrod in a CNN interview early this week. "He's going to work with the Senate and the House to try to ensure that at the end of the day the status quo is not changed."

In an interview with ABC News, Obama indicated he wants to preserve the spirit of the Hyde Amendment without limiting women's insurance choices, commenting that "we're not looking to change what is a core principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions."

Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) confirmed Obama's claims when he told CNN, "What is clear is... for this bill to be successful, there cannot be taxpayer funding of abortion." Yet Democratic opposition to the Stupak Amendment indicates the final Senate language will likely not permit federal funds to pay outright for abortions but will not restrict government subsidies for insurance plans that cover them.

There is also debate that abortion restrictions contained in the Stupak Amendment will have very little adverse financial effect on women since they already pay for abortions out-of-pocket or with private health insurance. The Wall Street Journal reports that the most expensive abortions, averaging $5,000, are those performed in the late second or third trimesters, making up only 1 percent of abortions nationwide. Ninety percent of women who have abortions do so in the first trimester and spend a comparatively modest average of $413.

The irony of the Stupak Amendment debate is that though its authors seem like heroes in the pro-life movement, they succeeded in garnering support for Obama's socialized healthcare bill. Anti-abortion Democrats in Congress had threatened in June to vote against healthcare that contained abortion funding. Once they got the language they wanted, they helped pass a bill that could lead to government making life-and-death decisions for more than the unborn. It will not matter what coverage people have when they cannot get necessary healthcare because of shortages caused by government rationing.

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JJ Suprise said:

	Should have been aborted!!!! Mike, you, Obama, Pelosi and Reid should have all been aborted by your mothers. The death panels are right there in the language of the bill, why don't you try reading it? People like you make me sick!
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November 18, 2009 | url
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jbs-believer said:

Healthcare Rationing? Aren't we already starting to witness an atmosphere of conditioning towards "healthcare rationing?" What about the recent televised ads instructing women to wait until their 50's to schedule mamogram check-ups? How ironic, wasn't last month National Breast Cancer Awareness Month promoting the early detection of this disease? Hopefully people will soon wake-up and realize that this Obamacare plan has nothing to do with health care, but everything to do with government micromanaging every aspect of our lives. State Legislatures should be preparing for defiance against the Leviathon of DC!

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November 18, 2009
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Flu-Bird said:

	Baby killer Obama So now this is the dork that received a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE and he is a prodeath advocate like all liberals are
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November 18, 2009
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Zelmer Zootinheimer said:

Rationing.... Look at the swine flu vaccines... those are rationed as well. My mother couldn't get one because she wasn't in a "protected class" or "at-risk group". I'm not sure what the fuss is about "Death Panels" here as this article was about abortions. Which are death panels in a way, they just consist of the mother and a doctor. Which is odd in and of itself because both should be the most concerned with the child's health. Pretty sad when the one person you expected you could count on in life snuffs you out before you even get to take a breath.

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November 18, 2009
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Zelmer Zootinheimer said:

	Mother's Day... That got me to thinking... I wonder if women who have had abortions struggle a bit with "Mother's Day"?
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November 18, 2009
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Bonnie said:

	... I wonder how the arguments of the likes of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are going to fare when they present them to their Maker? Actually, I KNOW how they are going to fare! Some people are going to be in for a BIG SURPRISE. As with Judas, "good were it for that man if he had never been born".
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November 18, 2009
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Jeremiah Whitmoore said:

	Why is abortion still legal? Didn't we just have almost 6 years with Republican control of congress and a Republican president?
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November 18, 2009 | url
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Stephanie Hunter said:

	Obviously An issue like abortion would distract people from the actual issues that surround healthcare reform. In fact, when we stick to facts like this it makes the concepts of reform much easier to agree on! http://cli.gs/23yYaM/
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November 18, 2009
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JJ Suprise said:

	Want Reform? Hey Stephanie, if you want reform? Get the Government out of health care as they are the ones who have caused this problem in the first place. We have got to get away from the Government success through failure mentality.
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November 19, 2009 | url
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GStone said:

... The current Healthcare system is a joke and this Healthcare reform bill is a joke too. We as a country need to reassess the way we look at healthcare. No one in this country is getting the healthcare they deserve unless they pay out of pocket because insurance companies don't cover true healthcare. These insurance and pharmaceutical companies are publicly traded, they have share holders to please and they need sick people to keep their profits rolling in. Most of these companies only care about the bottom line and not us American citizens. We, the people of this great nation need to take control of our own health. If we don’t this country will crumble, but maybe that’s what they want. It would certainly be easier to create a New World Order and take control of the people when we’re sick and desperate. Our government needs to stop buying prescription drugs and vaccines from the pharmaceutical companies. Just think how much prices will drop and the quality of their products (vaccines) will improve in a competitive free market.

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November 19, 2009
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