Washington D.C., Feb 26, 2010 / 17:19 pm
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) denied there was public funding of abortion in proposed health care legislation at the White House Health Care Summit on Thursday. However, critics said her comments ignored proposed "abortion tax" requirements for members of some federally subsidized insurance plans.
Speaker Pelosi’s comments came in reply to charges from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that the bill would fund abortions.
“For 30 years, we’ve had a federal law that says that we’re not going to have taxpayer funding of abortions,” he commented.
After “a very serious debate” in the House, Boehner said, the House upheld “the language we have had in law for 30 years that there will be no taxpayer funding of abortions.