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  • Title: Senate, 59-40, defeats move to strike limits on Medicaid abortion coverage.
    Journal: Wash Memo Alan Guttmacher Inst; 1993 Oct 05; (15):1-2. PubMed ID: 12286980.
    Abstract:
    On September 24 1993, the US Senate voted to limit access to abortion services for poor women under Medicaid to cases of rape, incest, or where pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's health. The US House of Representatives had earlier adopted a similar amendment, so now the bill will be sent to the President. The original amendment limited abortion access under Medicaid to only poor women whose life was endangered. Its sponsor proposed to expand coverage to cases of rape and incest based on pragmatic political grounds and knowing that this expansion would include fewer than 100 abortions. Abortion rights groups considered this 1993 expansion of the amendment as a step toward restoring real equity in access to abortion. Nevertheless, like the antiabortion groups, they do not consider it progress. The 5 female Senators vowed to fight to obtain full abortion coverage under Medicaid. The also pointed out to their male colleagues that this amendment discriminates against poor women. Many senators voted for the amendment because they chose the lesser of 2 evils. Many people are concerned that this bill indicates how Congress will treat poor women when health care reform legislation arrives and its concern for all women's right to access to abortion services under government-sponsored programs. More than 40 Senators can clearly see the difference between direct federal funding of abortion and other forms of government involvement. Further, Congress did approve the bill granting federal employees access to abortion services, but it passed by only 1 vote. Abortion rights proponents and abortion opponents should consider these aforementioned facts when preparing for the debate over abortion coverage under health care reform.
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