The fight over abortion rights set off by a provision in the House health-reform bill is coming to cable on Tuesday.
The ad is from Center for Reproductive Rights. "The promise of health care reform is expanded coverage and affordability, eliminating denials of coverage for pre-existing conditions, and a new basic package of essential benefits," said the group's president, Nancy Northup. "Yet some in Congress are attempting to use the reform bill as a vehicle for banning insurance coverage for abortion services, coverage that millions of women have today."
The last-minute amendment to the House health care bill would prevent some insurance plans from selling plans that cover abortion even to women who pay with their own money.
The amendment passed 240-194, with roughly one in four Democrats backing it. It would be the most aggressive rollback of reproductive rights in a generation. As the health care exchanges created by reform expand over time, the amendment could effectively put to an end the practice of insurance companies covering abortion procedures. (This FDL Action post explains how that would happen, despite what the often reliable -- but apparently fallible -- PolitiFact thinks.)
The ad -- titled "It's No Joke" -- will run on D.C.-area cable networks and online.
WATCH:
