Bernie Sanders Is Correct – ‘Medicare for All Guarantees Every Woman Right to Abortion’

Democrat 2020 contender Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appeared to be revealing a little-known secret about the “Medicare for All” health plan during the second debate Thursday evening: The plan “guarantees every woman in this country the right to have an abortion if she wants it.”

While many media focused primarily on the costs of Medicare for All and how it would affect the delivery of health care in the United States, Sanders stated unequivocally during the debate that the program would guarantee a free abortion to any woman who wants one.

Incredible. Sanders now promising his Medicare-for-All bill will cover abortion.

Americans do not support taxpayer-funded abortions.#DemDebate

— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 28, 2019

“[I]n addition to being grotesquely expensive and fiscally irresponsible,” Medicare for All “would mandate government coverage of abortions,” Alexandra DeSanctis wrote at National Review several weeks after House Democrats unveiled their Medicare for All plan.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), noted the legislation provides that “individuals enrolled for benefits under this Act are entitled to have payment made by the Secretary to an eligible provider for … comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care.”

DeSanctis wrote:

In plain language, the bill would guarantee “free” abortions for all women — or at least, as “free” as every other type of health care ostensibly would be under their implausible regime, which is to say abortion would be underwritten, along with everything else, by taxpayers.

She observed Medicare for All also states, “Any other provision of law in effect on the date of enactment of this Act restricting the use of Federal funds for any reproductive health service shall not apply to monies in the Trust Fund.”

If one of the moderators held up a photo of an ultrasound of a third trimester fetus and asked, “does this have no rights whatsoever?” it would be an inflection point.

— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) June 28, 2019

If enacted, Sanders is correct. Medicare for All would eradicate the Hyde Amendment and compel taxpayer-funded abortions for anyone who wants them.

Politico likewise noted that, under Medicare for All, states would be prohibited from excluding Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from Medicaid.

In a Fox News op-ed, Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Greg Walden (R-OR) called the abortion provisions in Medicare for All “deeply disturbing,” “radical,” and “unprecedented.”

“Democrats are actively trying to reverse a 40-year, bipartisan protection against federal taxpayer funded abortions,” they wrote. “They’d also force doctors and nurses to terminate a baby’s life.”

The congressmen continued:

So, does “Medicare-for-all” actually mandate abortion coverage?

Yes, and the authors of the bill confirmed abortion is covered. The benefits are specifically listed: “comprehensive reproductive, maternity, and newborn care.” Comprehensive reproductive care is included, meaning this plan — which is free — covers abortions. This means abortion-on-demand, funded by taxpayers.

In September 2017, abortion supporter Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) promised early on that Medicare for All would make abortion restrictions “history.”

CNSNews.com reported Blumenthal said about American women, “They have been denied health care too long because of restrictions like the Hyde Amendment.”

“Consider the Hyde Amendment history if we pass Medicare for All,” he asserted. “And all those other restrictions on reproductive rights.”

However, national pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) released a new poll Wednesday that found a majority (55 percent) of voters oppose using federal tax dollars to pay for abortions under Medicaid (40 percent strongly oppose). That opposition includes 35 percent of Democrat voters and 57 percent of independent voters.

The McLaughlin & Associates survey of 1,000 likely general election voters who were interviewed online has an accuracy of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence interval.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA List, said the poll shows Democrat contenders’ “extremism” on the issue of abortion “will be a major liability with voters in the general election.”