Abortion lobbed into healthcare fight

DALLAS (Reuters) - The political hot button issue of abortion has flared up in the bruising battle over U.S. healthcare reform, galvanizing conservatives against President Barack Obama's attempt to win his top domestic priority.

Conservative Christians and anti-abortion groups want abortion specifically barred from any policies sold through government-run insurance clearinghouses, whether offered by private insurance companies or a new public insurance plan.

Abortion could become another flashpoint in the escalating battle over healthcare reform, risking public support for an initiative already under attack on several fronts.

Nineteen House of Representative Democrats signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in June saying they could not back any "reform ... unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan."

Since then, conservative Christian radio stations and groups like the Family Research Council, a lobby group with strong evangelical ties, have sought to keep the issue in play on radio, in television ads and on the Internet.

"They won't pay for my surgery but we're forced to pay for abortions," says one elderly actor in a television ad paid for by Family Research Council Action and viewed on YouTube.

Federal funding of abortion is banned in the United States except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the mother's life under the Hyde amendment. The law applies mainly to healthcare provided through the government's Medicaid program for the poor, and 17 states pay for the procedure.

Many private healthcare plans cover the medical procedure.

The issue of federal tax dollars being used for "abortion on demand" has helped stir conservative opposition to healthcare reform which has taken its most visible form in protests at townhall meetings called to discuss the proposals.

ABORTION: IN OR OUT OF THE BILLS

The Democratic-controlled Senate and House of Representatives are working on different versions of a healthcare overhaul which may come before each chamber this fall. One amendment to the House bill would allow public plans to pay for abortion, but no federal money could be used -- only premiums paid by beneficiaries.

The healthcare bills would require both private insurers and a public insurance plan to offer an unspecified set of minimum benefits. These minimum benefits would be necessary if they are to participate in the healthcare insurance exchanges for the general public or for federal subsidies designed to bring coverage to some 46 million Americans who currently lack health insurance.

The Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services would be in charge of spelling out those benefits.

"If you do a word search you don't find abortion but you also don't find tonsillitis. What you find are terms like reproductive healthcare and essential healthcare services," said Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

"The only way to stop it from funding abortion is to explicitly prohibit this in the wording," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Other conservative opponents of healthcare reform say that if abortion is not specifically excluded they are concerned U.S. courts would see it as a legal right.

"It's quite clear that the courts will define abortion as healthcare unless it is explicitly prohibited," said Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, a legal activist group opposed to abortion rights.

This is disputed by supporters of reform and abortion rights who claim that none of the benefits under discussion in Congress will be directly funded with tax dollars.

"Many people will be paying for this coverage themselves. People (will) put their own money into them," said Laurie Rubiner, vice president at Planned Parenthood.

"They are not talking about any benefit in the bill, that is intentional, because the goal is not to have politicians decide which medical procedures will be covered," she said.

(Editing by Jackie Frank)