Did Sebelius Back More Steps for Banning Abortion Funding in Healthcare?

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Appearing yesterday on ABC's This Week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seemed to suggest that President Obama would go further than the current House healthcare bill does in preventing public financing of abortions.

Here's her exchange with George Stephanopoulos:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Secretary Sebelius, what's wrong with that, making it explicit in the bill that no public funding should go toward abortions?

SEBELIUS: Well, I think that's what the president intends to do. There's no intent to change the language that's in the current Medicaid statute, which has been there for years and provides insurance to millions of Americans. And in fact, recently the Catholic bishops came out, after the president's statement, saying that his statement about what he intends in the plan, that no public funds would go to fund abortions, and the fact that he has come out firmly for insuring all Americans and saying it's a moral issue as well as an economic issue, and they endorse moving forward. So I think that, you know, the legislative language will reflect what the president has just said.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're saying it will go beyond what we have seen so far in the House and explicitly rule out any public funding for abortion?

SEBELIUS: Well, that's exactly what the president said and I think that's what he intends that the bill he signs will do.

But Sebelius doesn't explicitly say that Obama will go further than the House healthcare bill does to bar government-funded abortions. A second reading of her remarks makes it pretty clear that she's merely seconding Obama's previous commitment to preventing government money from funding abortion. And the administration appears to believe that the House bill already blocks government-financed abortion.

Religious conservatives disagree, but I don't think Sebelius's comments mean that Obama's coming around to their side.

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