Pelosi Allegedly Tried Sneaking Pro-Abortion Language Into Coronavirus Bill. Ben Sasse Blasts Her.

After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allegedly tried to sneak a provision in the coronavirus economic stimulus plan that would circumvent the Hyde Amendment and allow abortion clinics to receive taxpayer funding, Senator Ben Sasse (R-NB) blasted her for her actions in an interview with National Review.

Sasse said, “While schools are closing and hospitals are gearing up, Speaker Pelosi is waging unnecessary culture wars. Speaker Pelosi should be fighting the coronavirus pandemic, not politicizing emergency funding by fighting against the bipartisan Hyde Amendment. We need to be ramping up our diagnostic testing, not waging culture wars at the behest of Planned Parenthood. Good grief.”

National Review noted:

Pelosi attempted to secure a funding stream of up to $1 billion for reimbursing laboratory claims. According to White House officials who spoke with the Daily Caller, that provision would establish a precedent under which health claims for all procedures, including abortion, could be reimbursed with federal funds. That precedent would render the Hyde Amendment, which blocks taxpayer funding for abortion clinics, obsolete.

Speaking on Fox News Thursday night, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) admitted “right now we are hearing that some of the fights and some of the gridlock is because people are trying to put pro-life provisions into this.”

Many Democrats support eliminating the Hyde Amendment; last June former Vice President Joe Biden stated:

I’ve supported the Hyde Amendment like many, many others have because there was sufficient monies and circumstances where women were able to exercise that right. But circumstances have changed. I’ve been working through the final details of my healthcare plan like others in this race and I’ve been struggling with the problems that Hyde now presents. I can’t justify leaving millions of women without access to care they need and the ability to constitute, exercise their constitutionally protected right. If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code.

Pelosi’s move is in contrast to her behavior last summer; The Atlantic reported last June:

This week, amid spending negotiations in the House, a freshman representative from Massachusetts, Ayanna Pressley, pushed a proposal to eliminate the Hyde Amendment, which bans reimbursement for most abortions through programs such as Medicaid, from the Health and Human Services budget. Democratic leaders quickly shut Pressley down, refusing to even bring her amendment to the House floor for a vote. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she doesn’t “see an opportunity to get rid of [Hyde]” given Republican control of the White House and Senate.

Pressley’s amendment, which was also introduced by U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), stated:

The Federal Government shall—

(1) ensure coverage for abortion care in public health insurance programs (including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program);

(2) in its role as an employer or health plan sponsor, ensure coverage for abortion care for participants and beneficiaries; and

(3) in its role as a provider of health services, ensure abortion care is made available to individuals who are eligible to receive services in its own facilities or in facilities with which it contracts to provide medical care.

(b) The Federal Government may not prohibit, restrict, or otherwise inhibit insurance coverage of abortion care by State or local government or by private health plans.