Politics

Controversy Over Covering 'Unborn'

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 6, 2001 / 11:45 AM EDT / CBS

The Bush administration is floating a new plan to extend federal prenatal and birth coverage to women in the ranks of the working poor. But the wording of the plan is becoming the focus of controversy in the always heated abortion debate, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts reports.

A draft letter the Department of Health and Human Services leaked to the media Friday proposes allowing "unborn children" to be included in the federally-financed Children's Health Insurance Program, known by the acronym "Chip".

Administration officials heralded the plan as a way to provide prenatal care for women who fall through the cracks – too poor to buy insurance, but not poor enough to qualify for Medicare.

Critics accused President Bush of attempting to erode abortion rights by placing concerns for the fetus above those of the mother.

"What they are saying is that 'the child' includes an unborn child from the moment of conception. That sets legal precedent on its head because we have never conferred personhood on a fetus," said Laurie Rubiner of the National Partnership for Women.

Learn more about the abortion debate.

Abortion-rights advocates have been suspicious the Bush administration would try to curtail access to abortion.

Last month, the House approved a measure that preserves President Bush's policy of banning aid to foreign organizations that discuss or advocate abortion rights abroad.

Critics also complained that pregnant women could easily be covered by a waiver in the CHIP program. The administration agrees, but says this proposal cuts through all the red tape involved with waivers.

While the White House said the letter was "not a philosophical statement," anti-abortion groups endorsed it as a needed recognition of the rights of an unborn child.

"Any reasonable person looking at this is going to say this is a good thing," said Laura Echevarria of the National Right to Life Organization. "They are extending prenatal care to both women and children. Everybody benefits."

The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, while governor of Wisconsin signed a bill banning what abortion opponents call partial-birth abortion.

CHIP was created by Congress in 1997 to provide medical coverage to the estimated 10 million American children without health insurance.

It allows states — which set the eligibility guidelines — to use federal matching funds to expand their Medicaid programs to cover children whose families don't qualify for Medicaid but can't afford private insurance, either. In fiscal 2000, 3.3 million children were covered under CHIP.

States and the federal government share costs for Medicaid and the CHIP program. In 1997, $24 billion was set aside to cover CHIP cost over five years.

In April, the House, by a 252-172 vote, passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. It would apply only to crimes in federal jurisdiction, but similar statutes are on the books in 24 states. The House passed virtually identical legislation, 254-172, last session, only to see it never addressed in the Senate.