Stealth Anti-Choice Provision Prevails, Congress to vote on Omnibus Spending Bill

NARAL Pro-Choice America: Stealth Anti-Choice Provision Prevails, Congress to vote on Omnibus Spending Bill

11/19/2004 4:11:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: David Seldin of NARAL Pro-Choice America, 202-973-3032

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by NARAL Pro-Choice America:

In an outrageous back-room maneuver, anti-choice legislators inserted a major new restriction on women's freedom into an omnibus spending bill. This latest move ensures that a significant piece of the anti-choice agenda will become law without a single hearing or an independent vote in the Senate.

The measure at issue is a Federal Refusal Clause allowing HMOs, for-profit hospitals and other health care companies to bar physicians from even talking to their patients about abortion. The House included the Federal Refusal Clause as a "rider" on a massive health funding bill earlier this year, but the Senate did not go along with the stealth strategy. In the closed-door negotiations this week, however, anti-choice lawmakers slipped it into the larger omnibus appropriations legislation. This measure is the third major piece of the anti-choice agenda the Bush crowd has gotten through in 12 months.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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