Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Once again there is an attempt at a government take-over of health care. Those Republicans just cannot resist trying to get the government involved in areas where it does not belong, such as in trying to restrict reproductive rights and the ability of a woman to control her own body.  The House is expected to vote a a bill to prevent the use of federal funds for training in performing abortions. The Hill reports:

House members on Tuesday night are expected to hold a controversial vote on language that would prevent federal funds for medical resident training from being used to train residents on abortion procedures.

The language in question comes from Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who is seeking to amend a bill that would scale back the federal funding and make it subject to annual appropriations. The program, established in last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was automatically funded by Democrats last year.

“This amendment ensures that the grants being provided to teaching health centers are not being used to perform elective abortion, makes it crystal clear that taxpayer money is not being used to train healthcare providers to perform abortion procedures,” Foxx said. “When the liberal Democrats rammed through their government takeover of healthcare, in an unprecedented fashion, they refused to include longstanding pro-life provisions.”

Foxx’s amendment drew an immediate backlash from Democrats, who argued that preventing training on abortion would prevent training on a legal procedure. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) argued that while even Republicans have OKed federal funding for abortion in the case of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk, these procedures could be hindered by conditioning federal training funds.

“What it would mean is that across the country, residents would be barred from learning how to perform even a basic medical procedure required for women’s health,” DeGette said. “This amendment would jeopardize both education and women’s healthcare by obliterating funding for a necessary full range of medical training by healthcare professionals.”