President Obama recently combined the U.S. House and Senate versions of the health care bill into one plan that will be voted on by both bodies. This plan provides direct federal funding of elective abortions through Community Health Centers (CHC). It also does not protect health care workers who conscientiously object to performing abortions.

In addition to concerns about protecting life, disability advocates at Joni and Friends (JAF) Christian Institute on Disability (CID) also question the decision-making authorities behind patient care, an issue that is still not clearly defined in the President’s version of the health care bill.

Issues they would like to discuss include:

• Vague language regarding gatekeepers and patient-care decision makers
• Absence of a conscience clause
• Physician requirement to perform abortions or other medical decisions that would not sustain life
• Provider integrity
  
  

These issues are of grave concern to Joni Eareckson Tada, disability advocate and founder of the Joni and Friends International Disability Center. A quadriplegic herself, she knows how vital good health care is for those with disabilities, but also recognizes the need for every life to be valued and treated individually, not according to broad government categories.

By appointment

Via phone and in studio from Los Angeles

If all the president’s changes are made, it would result in direct federal funding of abortion on demand through CHCs, creation of federal subsidies for private health care plans that cover abortion on demand and authorize federal mandates requiring some non-subsidized private plans to cover elective abortions. Such a bill would become the largest pro-abortion legislation brought to the floor of either the U.S. House or Senate since “Roe v. Wade.”

In addition, government panels and guidelines would be used to determine patient care, rather than individual trusted physicians who know the patient and his/her circumstances. This rationing of treatment and use of evidence-based medicine to determine who is “worth” treating will have devastating consequences for the elderly, disabled and chronically ill patients.

To request an interview, please contact Dan Parker at [email protected] or 972.267.1111.

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