Maybe this will clear things up a little.
1. MYTH: Health care reform would result in the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.
REALITY: Currently, the majority of plans already cover basic reproductive health care, including abortion care. In fact, more than 86 percent of employer-based insurance plans cover abortion care. That's why anti-choice groups are working so hard to strip reproductive health from health care reform — in order to strip women of coverage they currently have.
2. MYTH: Taxpayer money would be used to pay for abortions in the public plan.
REALITY: Opponents of reproductive health care are trying to confuse people into thinking that the public plan is a government-funded health plan like Medicaid or Medicare — it is not. The public health insurance plan would operate like any private insurance plan would. It would be funded and paid for by private individual premiums, in the same way a private insurance plan is. Therefore, there is no reason to treat any coverage issue, including abortion coverage, differently in the public health insurance plan than in private plans.
3. MYTH: Health care reform will "mandate" abortion coverage.
REALITY: Nothing in any of the current health care reform bills mandates abortion coverage — or any other type of health care service. Opponents of women's health and health care reform are trying to hijack health care reform to push for unprecedented prohibitions on abortion coverage in the private marketplace
From the Feminist Majority Foundation:
Medical Abortion Pill Mifepristone Approved in Italy
The Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA) has approved mifepristone, also known as RU-486, for use through the seventh week of pregnancy. Last week's ruling stipulates that the drug can be administered by doctors in a hospital but can not be sold in pharmacies, according to the BBC. As the host country of the Vatican, Italy has long faced an especially contentious abortion debate. The Roman Catholic Church denounced AIFA's decision. Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life, announced, "There will be excommunication for the doctor, the woman, and anyone who encourages [mifepristone's] use," reports Reuters. Accessibility of mifepristone remains unclear because about 70 percent of Italian doctors are "conscientious objectors" who will not provide abortion services, according to the health ministry.AIFA acknowledged the debate surrounding abortion in its report, noting that "the task of protecting the well-being of citizens...must take precedence over personal convictions," reports the AP. Mifepristone has been available on a limited, experimental basis in Italy since 2006, according to the Associated Press. Surgical abortion through the end of the first trimester, and in limited cases through 24 weeks of pregnancy, has been legal in Italy since 1978.
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