News

Jul 20, 2010

At his weekly pen and pad briefing on Monday at the Capital, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Republican Conference, said that last week’s revelation by the National Right to Life’s legal counsel that the new health care law will allow some states to use federal funds for abortion is unacceptable.

“It must not stand,” Pence said when asked by CNSNews.com what Republicans are doing in response to the news.

“We are calling on this administration and the leaders in Congress to take immediate action to prevent taxpayers dollars to be used in that way,” Pence said.

"The fact that the high-risk pool insurance program in Pennsylvania will use federal taxpayer dollars to fund abortions is unconscionable," House Republican John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Just last month at the White House, I asked President Obama to provide the American people with a progress report on the implementation of his Executive Order, which purports to ban taxpayer-funding of abortions. Unfortunately, the President provided no information, and the American people are still waiting for answers."

Pence said it showed the ineffectiveness of the Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama ahead of the congressional vote on the law to assuage so-called pro-life Democrats that the federal government would not fund abortions.

“It’s appalling,” Pence said, adding that the executive order was only “a piece of paper signed by the most pro-abortion president” and ended three decades of legal precedent in the United States that has banned the use of taxpayer money to fund abortions.