[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 229 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 229

 Expressing the sense of the Congress that any national comprehensive 
benefit package that results from health care reform legislation should 
    cover the full range of reproductive health services for women.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 1994

Mr. Moran (for himself, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Furse, 
   Mr. Olver, Mr. Miller of California, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Studds, Mr. 
Andrews of Maine, Mr. Filner, Ms. Norton, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Wheat, Mr. 
 Edwards of California, Mr. Fazio, Mr. Farr of California, Mr. Yates, 
 Mr. Gejdenson, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Rush, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Meehan, and 
 Mr. Andrews of Texas) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
which was referred jointly to the Committees on Energy and Commerce and 
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that any national comprehensive 
benefit package that results from health care reform legislation should 
    cover the full range of reproductive health services for women.

Whereas reproductive health care is the most significant form of health care 
        that an average woman receives during most of her lifetime;
Whereas reproductive health care is an essential component of primary health 
        care for women and includes gynecological care, contraception, and 
        pregnancy-related treatment;
Whereas advances in reproductive health care, including access 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 surgical 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 endanger the health of the woman if national or State funding 
        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 affordability 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 existing 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 procedures and increasingly fewer 
        medical schools that include abortion in the training offered by the 
        school; and
Whereas the inclusion of coverage for abortion in any national comprehensive 
        benefit package would be consistent with the decision of the Congress 
        not to include any abortion-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
            (4) any health care reform legislation that is enacted 
        should include a conscience clause that exempts a health care 
        provider from performing or participating in an abortion to 
        which the provider objects based on a religious belief or moral 
        conviction.

                                 <all>