SO THE CHARITABLE VIEW IS HE'S IGNORANT RATHER THAN LYING?:

How Abortion Could Imperil Health-Care Reform (Michael Scherer , 8/24/09, TIME)

The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the Federal Government's role in the financing of abortions. "It would be a dramatic shift," says Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who has vowed to oppose the bill because of how it would affect abortion. Stupak says dozens of House Democrats may join him in opposing a final health-care compromise unless the abortion language is changed, presenting a clear challenge to Democratic vote counters that could imperil a party-line vote. [...]

Opponents of abortion, including Stupak, want language that would prohibit any private insurance company that accepts federal funds from offering to policyholders abortions other than those already eligible under Medicaid.

Nonetheless, the new system differs markedly from the old federal policy of not involving the government in abortion services unless issues of rape, incest or the life of the mother are at play. "It does represent a policy shift in favor of the abortion-rights community that it would not have received under George W. Bush's Administration," says Glen Halva-Neubauer, a political scientist at Furman University who has studied the politics of abortion. [...]

[S]tupak says that Obama's statements during recent public events signal one of two things: either he does not fully understand the current House bill, which Stupak maintains has the effect of publicly funding abortion, or "if he is aware of it, and he is making these statements, then he is misleading people."