By John Jalsevac
September 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This past weekend Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius gave an interview to ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, in which she appeared to say that President Obama would change the healthcare bill to make clear that no public funds would go to abortion.
Stephanopoulos asked Sebelius, “Secretary Sebelius, what's wrong with that, making it explicit in the bill that no public funding should go toward abortions?”
Sebelius responded, “Well, I think that's what the president intends to do.”
Stephanopoulos then clarified, “So you're saying it will go beyond what we have seen so far in the House and explicitly rule out any public funding for abortion?” at which point Sebelius responded, “Well, that's exactly what the president said and I think that's what he intends that the bill he signs will do.”
Douglas Johnson, however, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), responded to Sebelius' statement, expressing doubt that any such changes would be made to the bill. “For months, the President, his staff, and his congressional allies have misrepresented actual language in their bills that would result in government funding of elective abortions,” he said.
“The latest statements by Mr. Obama and Ms. Sebelius are most likely a continuation of their strategy of denial, evasion, and distortion. We say, watch what they do, not what they say.”
Throughout the healthcare debate the Obama administration, including the President himself, has denied that the proposed legislation would open the door to public funding of abortion. However, despite such assurances, numerous legal experts, commentators, and the non-partisan FactCheck.org have all confirmed that the bill would indeed direct public funds toward funding abortion.
Dan Gilgoff, writing on the God&Country blog for U.S. News & World Report, points out that Sebelius' comments can be seen as simply part of the Obama administration's consistent strategy of denying that the bill would fund abortions, and not indicative of any major change in tactic. “Religious conservatives disagree [that the bill won't fund abortions],” wrote Gilgoff, “but I don't think Sebelius's comments mean that Obama's coming around to their side.”
Last week, in his healthcare speech to a joint session of Congress, the President again denied that the bill would fund abortions, saying: “One more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”
However, pro-life leaders immediately pointed out that that simply wasn't true.
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, stated in response to the President's speech: “If there are 'misunderstandings' or 'bogus claims' about abortion funding in pending health reform legislation, as the President claimed in his speech, they are coming from the White House, not pro-lifers.”