Confused?

Given how much time has been spent in the media discussing health care reform, you would think the average person would have at least a basic understanding of what took place when the President signed the Senate bill into law last week.

Unfortunately, much of what has been written (or spoken) on this issue seems intended to confound–rather than promote–people’s understanding.

One point of confusion is the claim that many reporters are perpetuating that the bill doesn’t finance abortions.

Reality is that the bill establishes some $9-11 billion dollars in funding for Community Health Centers (CHC). Till recently, these centers were forbidden from performing abortions because their funding was governed by the Hyde Amendment.

The funding in the current legislation is not governed by the Hyde Amendment, or anything similar. So while the CHCs don’t perform abortions now, there is nothing stopping them from doing so–with federal money–in the future.

By the way, President Obama’s Executive Order does not change this fact. The opinion on both the Right and the Left is that the Executive Order is practically useless.

I’ll refrain from editorial comment except to say that we ought to be praying for our nation and its leaders.

There are perhaps thousands of articles online that discuss this issue, and they can be difficult to sift through. Two I found very helpful are here and here.