Contact: Susan Armacost, Legislative Director, sarmacost@wrtl.org; Barbara L. Lyons, Executive Director, admin@wrtl.org; both with Wisconsin Right To Life, 877-855-5007 

MEDIA ADVISORY, May 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Wisconsin Right to Life is announcing today a massive campaign aimed at allowing Wisconsin to opt-out of abortion coverage in the state-based insurance "exchanges" created by the federal health care law known as Obamacare.

According to Susan Armacost, Wisconsin Right to Life Legislative Director, the organization has been working with legislators for some time on this issue.  "Polling has consistently shown that citizens do not want to subsidize abortion coverage or pay for abortions," said Armacost.  "Obamacare requires federal agencies to subsidize and administer health plans that will pay for elective abortions.  The law also opens the door to direct federal funding of abortion in Community Health Centers, hundreds of which are operated by Planned Parenthood - the nation's largest abortion provider," Armacost said.

"While state legislation cannot correct all of the abhorrent federal abortion provisions, we do have the ability to make sure that the state-based insurance exchanges are not spending tax dollars to subsidize abortion."

The Executive Order signed by President Obama, widely and inaccurately reported as prohibiting taxpayer abortion funding under the law, cannot overrule the abortion impact of the law.

Opt-out legislation cannot be introduced until January of 2011.  As a first step in the campaign to enact opt-out legislation, Wisconsin Right to Life is promoting a petition to our new Governor, who will take office then, letting him know that hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin citizens want our state to opt-out of subsidizing abortions through health insurance.  The petition can be found online at www.wrtl.org/petition.