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Bush Targets 'Unborn Child' Coverage
By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is poised to classify a developing fetus as an ``unborn child'' eligible for government health care, giving low-income women access to prenatal care while bolstering the administration's anti-abortion credentials.
Abortion rights advocates call it a backdoor attempt to undermine Roe v. Wade (news - web sites), the landmark Supreme Court decision that guaranteed the right to legal abortion.
The plan, now under review, would make the fetus eligible for services under the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Specifically, states could consider a fetus ``a targeted low-income child'' and therefore pay for prenatal care and child birth expenses, according to a draft letter now being reviewed by Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson.
``It is well established that access to prenatal care can improve health outcomes over a child's life,'' says the letter to state health officials from Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at HHS.
Abortion rights advocates countered that it's not the fetus that is served by prenatal care but the mother.
``This is the most cynical of politics, and once again, the administration trying desperately to satisfy the demands of the far right wing,'' said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (news - web sites).
She added that the policy seems to be an attempt to set a precedent establishing the fetus as a person under law, ``leading to the criminalization of all abortions.''
She and others said they, too, want to provide more prenatal care, and encouraged the Bush administration to support legislation expanding the children's health program to pregnant women. Rep. Nita Lowey (news - bio - voting record), D-N.Y., said she would reintroduce legislation doing just that next week.
Meanwhile, the National Governors Association warned HHS that while some states will embrace the new option and some will immediately reject it, other states will face divisive battles over whether to go along.
The HHS letter notes that the new policy would not take effect until after it was published in the federal register, giving interested parties the opportunity to comment and assuring a vigorous debate over the matter. At the same time, Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) said it was investigating its legal options, hoping to file suit stopping the regulation.
``This is a long way from a done deal,'' said the group's president, Gloria Feldt.
A leader of abortion opponents dismissed the notion that the administration move would have much impact, saying federal law already recognizes rights of unborn fetuses.
``I certainly don't think it's going to have any sweeping impact in other areas of the law,'' said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life.
HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said the goal is to expand access to prenatal care and give states more flexibility in running their programs, not to promote an anti-abortion agenda.
``States don't have to do this,'' he said.
The review comes as the administration contemplates another high-profile issue important to abortion opponents: whether to allow federal funding for research using stem cells that come from embryos. Abortion opponents are lobbying President Bush (news - web sites) to ban this funding, while Thompson privately lobbies for it.
Pierce said the two issues were unrelated, but he did not deny that allowing ``unborn children'' into the health program could be a boon to those who believe that a fetus is a person with individual rights.
``If the question is, is the secretary pro-life, the answer is yes,'' he said. ``So is the administration.''
States may already cover pregnant women under the health program, known as CHIP, but they have to get specific permission from HHS since CHIP was designed for children, not adults. Similarly, several states have won permission to cover the parents of children in the program.
Medicaid, which covers the poorest Americans, already requires states to cover pregnant women with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line, and many states include women with higher incomes in their Medicaid programs.
CHIP, created in 1997, is targeted at children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy health insurance on their own.
By LAURA MECKLER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is poised to classify a developing fetus as an ``unborn child'' eligible for government health care, giving low-income women access to prenatal care while bolstering the administration's anti-abortion credentials.
Abortion rights advocates call it a backdoor attempt to undermine Roe v. Wade (news - web sites), the landmark Supreme Court decision that guaranteed the right to legal abortion.
The plan, now under review, would make the fetus eligible for services under the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
Specifically, states could consider a fetus ``a targeted low-income child'' and therefore pay for prenatal care and child birth expenses, according to a draft letter now being reviewed by Health and Human Services (news - web sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson.
``It is well established that access to prenatal care can improve health outcomes over a child's life,'' says the letter to state health officials from Dennis Smith, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at HHS.
Abortion rights advocates countered that it's not the fetus that is served by prenatal care but the mother.
``This is the most cynical of politics, and once again, the administration trying desperately to satisfy the demands of the far right wing,'' said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (news - web sites).
She added that the policy seems to be an attempt to set a precedent establishing the fetus as a person under law, ``leading to the criminalization of all abortions.''
She and others said they, too, want to provide more prenatal care, and encouraged the Bush administration to support legislation expanding the children's health program to pregnant women. Rep. Nita Lowey (news - bio - voting record), D-N.Y., said she would reintroduce legislation doing just that next week.
Meanwhile, the National Governors Association warned HHS that while some states will embrace the new option and some will immediately reject it, other states will face divisive battles over whether to go along.
The HHS letter notes that the new policy would not take effect until after it was published in the federal register, giving interested parties the opportunity to comment and assuring a vigorous debate over the matter. At the same time, Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) said it was investigating its legal options, hoping to file suit stopping the regulation.
``This is a long way from a done deal,'' said the group's president, Gloria Feldt.
A leader of abortion opponents dismissed the notion that the administration move would have much impact, saying federal law already recognizes rights of unborn fetuses.
``I certainly don't think it's going to have any sweeping impact in other areas of the law,'' said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life.
HHS spokesman Bill Pierce said the goal is to expand access to prenatal care and give states more flexibility in running their programs, not to promote an anti-abortion agenda.
``States don't have to do this,'' he said.
The review comes as the administration contemplates another high-profile issue important to abortion opponents: whether to allow federal funding for research using stem cells that come from embryos. Abortion opponents are lobbying President Bush (news - web sites) to ban this funding, while Thompson privately lobbies for it.
Pierce said the two issues were unrelated, but he did not deny that allowing ``unborn children'' into the health program could be a boon to those who believe that a fetus is a person with individual rights.
``If the question is, is the secretary pro-life, the answer is yes,'' he said. ``So is the administration.''
States may already cover pregnant women under the health program, known as CHIP, but they have to get specific permission from HHS since CHIP was designed for children, not adults. Similarly, several states have won permission to cover the parents of children in the program.
Medicaid, which covers the poorest Americans, already requires states to cover pregnant women with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line, and many states include women with higher incomes in their Medicaid programs.
CHIP, created in 1997, is targeted at children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy health insurance on their own.
