Washington, D.C.--Congressman Eliot Engel met with members of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health to discuss pending health care reform legislation. The group was in Washington to protest the “Stupak Amendment,” which was added to H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act when it passed the House in November.

Congressman Engel voted against the Stupak Amendment (HR 3692). He issued this statement at the time:

“A giant step by the House of Representatives to end discrimination against women in the health insurance market was sullied by the adoption of the Stupak-Pitts anti-choice amendment. Under the Affordable Health Care for America Act, uninsured women will gain significant access to quality health care, including family planning and guaranteed access to maternity care. Discriminatory insurance coverage policies designating pregnancy, domestic violence and caesarean sections as pre-existing conditions will be ended, and it will no longer be permissible to charge women more for insurance coverage than men. These are measures we can all applaud.

“And yet, the Stupak-Pitts amendment undermines the thoughtfully crafted, balanced language in the Affordable Health Care for America Act which already prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion. The amendment is, in fact, the only language in the entire health reform bill that restricts coverage of a legal medical procedure. The amendment uses low-income and middle-income women as a political football by stating that anyone who receives limited tax credit assistance to purchase mandated health insurance, may not access a plan that covers abortion, and should instead purchase stand-alone abortion coverage.

"No one plans on having an abortion and so it's both insulting, and an invasion of privacy to single out this one procedure. I will continue, as my 21-year 100% pro-choice record shows, to fight for a woman’s right to choose.”