Last week, Representative Joe Pitts (R-PA) was selected to chair the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, which oversees private health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health. Pitts, who was endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee, is outspokenly against abortion and has expressed his desire to repeal health care reform law. Representative Pitts also stated that he would continue to try to promote the restrictive anti-abortion Stupak/Pitts amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act (HR 3962) In December 2009, the Stupak/Pitts amendment passed by a 240-194 vote of the House of Representatives, but it was not included in the final health reform package. The amendment would have banned abortion coverage for women in both the public option and private insurance, even if the were to pay out of pocket in the public option or through private plans in the insurance exchange.
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