•HCON 229 IH
Whereas advances in reproductive health care, including ac-
cess to safe and legal abortion services, have produced
unquestioned health benefits for women;
Whereas most health benefit plans that include coverage for
pregnancy-related care also include coverage for abortion
services, resulting in abortion coverage for approximately
78,000,000 women in the United States;
Whereas abortion is one of the most common and safest sur-
gical procedures performed on women;
Whereas a woman is more likely to bear an unwanted child,
continue a potentially health-threatening pregnancy to
term, or undergo an abortion procedure that would en-
danger the health of the woman if national or State fund-
ing regulations deter or delay the woman from seeking an
early termination of pregnancy;
Whereas forced continued pregnancy may lead to serious
physical risks and burdens in some women that range
from prolonged discomfort and pain to a substantial risk
of medical complications, and may even lead to death;
Whereas each week that passes after 8 weeks of pregnancy
increases the risk of death or major complications from
an abortion;
Whereas 1⁄2 of all women who delayed seeking an abortion
until 16 weeks into a pregnancy did so in order to seek
financing to pay for the abortion;
Whereas the proportion of abortions that occur after the
fetus is viable likely will increase if access to, and the af-
fordability of, abortions becomes limited;
Whereas excluding coverage for abortion from any national
comprehensive benefit package that results from health
care reform legislation would further exacerbate the exist-
•HCON 229 IH
ing shortage of qualified physicians willing and able to
perform safe abortions;
Whereas there are increasingly fewer residency programs in
obstetrics-gynecology that offer training in abortion pro-
cedures and increasingly fewer medical schools that in-
clude abortion in the training offered by the school; and
Whereas the inclusion of coverage for abortion in any na-
tional comprehensive benefit package would be consistent
with the decision of the Congress not to include any abor-
tion-related limitation on the Federal employees health
benefit program in the Treasury, Postal Service, and
General Government Appropriations Act, 1994: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) all women should have the opportunity to
make decisions about their own reproductive health
and to act on such decisions through access to the
full range of reproductive health services, including
contraception, prenatal care, and abortion;
(2) any national comprehensive benefit package
that results from health care reform legislation
should cover the full range of reproductive health
services for women;
(3) every woman should be able to decide
whether or not to have an abortion based on her own
religious beliefs and moral convictions; and
•HCON 229 IH
(4) any health care reform legislation that is
enacted should include a conscience clause that ex-
empts a health care provider from performing or
participating in an abortion to which the provider
objects based on a religious belief or moral convic-
tion.
Æ