Abortion Coverage

WASHINGTON -- Participants in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan may receive coverage for abortions as early as next January if Congress approves a request by the Clinton administration.Since 1983, Congress has forbidden FEHBP from offering coverage for any abortions except those necessary to save a mother's life. The administration plans to ask Congress to end this policy by deleting the relevant provision from the appropriations bill for the Treasury Department and U.S. Postal Service.

Abortion care is part of basic health care for women. It is not up to politicians to decide whether and when we have children. But as Congress nears agreement on a historic health care reform bill, women's fundamental reproductive freedom is being threatened. Proposed restrictions on how or whether insurance companies in the proposed health care exchange could provide abortion coverage for women remain a contentious issue. In order to move forward, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland is corralling wavering Democrats to find the votes necessary to pass the Senate's health care reform bill.

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Senate joined the House yesterday in rolling back abortion rights granted by President Clinton, voting 50-44 to deny abortion coverage to federal employees except for rape, incest or if the life of the mother is endangered.Tempers flared during a long day of debate that resulted in a slight loosening of a House provision that would have provided coverage only if the life of the woman were imperiled.But in the first test this year of Senate sentiment on the volatile abortion issue, the tally made clear that the chamber is not going to block entirely the wholesale dismantling of abortion rights that many in the House Republican majority are seeking.

House Democrats ought to be embarrassed by the anti-abortion amendment grafted over the weekend to their landmark health care legislation. As ugly as the health care debate has gotten, the last thing the women of this country likely expected was that a Democrat-controlled Congress would want to limit their ability to purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion. But that's exactly what happened when the House adopted the last-minute anti-choice amendment. It goes far beyond the established practice of banning Medicaid funding for abortion and makes it difficult for anyone buying insurance with any form of government assistance to get abortion coverage.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate cleared the way yesterday for 3.1 million federal workers to receive health insurance coverage for abortions for the first time in almost a decade, reversing the policy of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush and handing abortion supporters a clear victory.The Senate approved a government spending bill without the long-standing abortion coverage ban after Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski used a parliamentary maneuver to quickly defeat an amendment that would have preserved the ban. The amendment was defeated 51-48, shutting off what was expected to be an hours-long debate on abortion.

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers seeking health care equity for women said yesterday that President Clinton's reform proposal represents a step forward but worry that his failure to make a clear commitment to abortion coverage may lead to a retreat on that key issue.The president's plan would give many women coverage for Pap smears, mammograms, prenatal services, routine exams and other preventive services for the first time, though some advocates complain the coverage would still fall short of what most doctors recommend.

A bortion care is part of basic health care for women. It is not up to politicians to decide whether and when we have children. But as Congress nears agreement on a historic health care reform bill, women's fundamental reproductive freedom is being threatened. Proposed restrictions on how or whether insurance companies in the proposed health care exchange could provide abortion coverage for women remain a contentious issue. In order to move forward, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland is corralling wavering Democrats to find the votes necessary to pass the Senate's health care reform bill.

Boston -- Maybe we should call it a pre-existing condition. Being female, that is.After all, we've been promised that people with other pre-existing conditions, things like diabetes or asthma, won't be excluded from the new health plan. Maybe if femaleness, or at least fertility, were a pre-existing condition, we could be assured of coverage for the whole range of reproductive care, including abortion.As things are, it's looking a bit dicey. Even before the president's speech, health guru Ira Magaziner said they were prepared to accept a plan without abortion coverage.

Boston.--All through the debate about abortion and health care reform, many members of Congress have been talking about the status quo as if it were a peaceable kingdom in the abortion wars.They have described that ''state'' longingly as a utopia where sleeping dogs lie. Where boats don't rock. Where bills pass.Leaders in both houses have tried to devise some compromise that would fit within those borders. They wanted a place where a reform bill would be safe from the cross fire of pro-life and pro-choice opponents.

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on selected roll-call votes last week:Y: YES N: NO X: NOT VOTINGHOUSE: TOBACCOThe House refused, 199 for and 223 against, to reduce federal subsidies for tobacco growers.D8 A yes vote was to reduce federal support of tobacco.Y N X Member* N * Ehrlich, Robert, R-2nd* N * Hoyer, Steny H. D-5thY * * Bartlett, Roscoe G., R-6th* N * Wynn, Albert R., D-4thY * * Cardin, Benjamin L., D-3rdY * * Mfume, Kweisi, D-7thY * * Gilchrest, Wayne T., R-1stY * * Morella, Constance A., R-8thHOUSE: ABORTIONThe House refused, 188 for and 235 against, to include abortion coverage in the health insurance program that covers more than 1 million women in the civil service and their dependents.

WASHINGTON -- When Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich wrote the "Contract with America" as a Republican agenda, he was shrewd enough to leave out any of the touchy social issues. He understood their potential for causing tensions among Republicans and for polarizing the electorate as a whole.But now, after eight months in power, conservative Republicans in Congress are asserting themselves on one issue after another -- and perhaps at some political cost to themselves and their party.This is the clear message in the movement to deny federal workers health insurance plans that provide coverage for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the life of the mother.

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Senate joined the House yesterday in rolling back abortion rights granted by President Clinton, voting 50-44 to deny abortion coverage to federal employees except for rape, incest or if the life of the mother is endangered.Tempers flared during a long day of debate that resulted in a slight loosening of a House provision that would have provided coverage only if the life of the woman were imperiled.But in the first test this year of Senate sentiment on the volatile abortion issue, the tally made clear that the chamber is not going to block entirely the wholesale dismantling of abortion rights that many in the House Republican majority are seeking.

Here is how members of Maryland's delegation on Capitol Hill were recorded on selected roll-call votes last week:Y: YES N: NO X: NOT VOTINGHOUSE: TOBACCOThe House refused, 199 for and 223 against, to reduce federal subsidies for tobacco growers.D8 A yes vote was to reduce federal support of tobacco.Y N X Member* N * Ehrlich, Robert, R-2nd* N * Hoyer, Steny H. D-5thY * * Bartlett, Roscoe G., R-6th* N * Wynn, Albert R., D-4thY * * Cardin, Benjamin L., D-3rdY * * Mfume, Kweisi, D-7thY * * Gilchrest, Wayne T., R-1stY * * Morella, Constance A., R-8thHOUSE: ABORTIONThe House refused, 188 for and 235 against, to include abortion coverage in the health insurance program that covers more than 1 million women in the civil service and their dependents.

Boston.--All through the debate about abortion and health care reform, many members of Congress have been talking about the status quo as if it were a peaceable kingdom in the abortion wars.They have described that ''state'' longingly as a utopia where sleeping dogs lie. Where boats don't rock. Where bills pass.Leaders in both houses have tried to devise some compromise that would fit within those borders. They wanted a place where a reform bill would be safe from the cross fire of pro-life and pro-choice opponents.

Led by two Baltimore prelates, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops today were warning of an intensified campaign to mobilize millions of members of their church against any health care plan that requires all health insurers to cover abortion as part of a standard package of benefits.In a letter to congressional leaders this week from Archbishop William H. Keeler and Bishop John R. Ricard, both of Baltimore, and others, the bishops reaffirmed their support for changing the health system to achieve universal coverage.

WASHINGTON -- After an intense debate that hinted at the emotional showdown ahead, abortion rights advocates scored an early victory yesterday in their drive to assure coverage in health care legislation.The Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources voted 11 to 6 to reject a Republican attempt to limit the abortion services included in the basic benefits package to be offered to all Americans. Under the Republican plan, coverage would be provided only in cases involving rape, incest or where the life of the mother is at risk.

Led by two Baltimore prelates, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops today were warning of an intensified campaign to mobilize millions of members of their church against any health care plan that requires all health insurers to cover abortion as part of a standard package of benefits.In a letter to congressional leaders this week from Archbishop William H. Keeler and Bishop John R. Ricard, both of Baltimore, and others, the bishops reaffirmed their support for changing the health system to achieve universal coverage.