RNC Planning Immediate Review of Its Abortion Coverage

ABC News’ Teddy Davis reports:

Ken McKay, the chief of staff of the Republican National Committee, has prepared a memo toall 168 members of the RNCinforming them thatparty chairmanMichael Steele has called for the party's 27-member executive committee to conductan immediate review of the elective abortion coverage contained in the RNC’s health insurance policy.

“I can assure you that the Chairman takes this issue very seriously,” writes McKay.

Cigna offers its customers the opportunity to opt out of abortion coverage but the RNC chose not to opt out in 1991. The RNC’s current leadership says that it was not previously aware of the abortion coverage under its Cigna plan until a Politico reporter contacted the press office on Wednesday.

Even though the decision to include an abortion service was made 18 years before Steele took the party reins, the abortion issue is a politically sensitive one for him because although he describes himself as pro-life, he parts with some fellow Republicans by believing that the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision upholding a federal right to abortion should be left in place under the principle of stare decisis.

No date has yet been set for the abortion review but McKay’s memo calls for it to take place in “the immediate future” as part of a broader review of the RNC’s health insurance policy.

McKay’s memo gets in a jab at Cigna, saying that “much of the information” on the RNC’s policy was provided by the insurance company.

The executive committee is the body responsible for deciding the content of the RNC’s health insurance policy.

Read more coverage from ABC News HERE.

See below for the memo from RNC chief of staff Ken McKay to the RNC’s executive committee:

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Members of the Republican National Committee:

On Wednesday morning, the RNC’s Press Office received a phone call from a reporter asking questions about the health care policy the RNC offers employees through Cigna, and specifically whether or not our plan covers elective abortion procedures for our employees. Upon learning of this story, at the Chairman’s direction, we immediately contacted the Executive Committee. The story was published this afternoon with much of the information on our policy being provided by Cigna. We will be scheduling a call with the Executive Committee in the immediate future to discuss this matter more fully.

Our current insurance plan was put in place in 1991. Chairman Steele had already called for an official review of our health insurance policy along with a number of other operational items. The review of our health insurance policy has been underway for some time and that review continues. I can assure you that the Chairman takes this issue very seriously. The Chairman began travelling to state party events on Wednesday evening this week and will be out of the office attending party building events until Saturday evening. He has been engaged by phone on this issue. In accordance with Chairman Steele’s instructions we will update you and discuss the steps we are taking to address this issue.

…

Sincerely,

Ken McKay

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No More Review: RNC’s Abortion Coverage Is Toast

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports:

The chairman of the Republican National Committee announced late Thursday that he is unilaterally ending coverage of elective abortion under the RNC's Cigna health-care plan.

“Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose,” said RNC Chair Michael Steele in a written statement. “I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled.”

The RNC's coverage of elective abortion, which began in 1991, was first reported on Thursday evening by Politico.

The RNC's current leadership says it was unaware that abortion was included in the party's health insurance plan until Politico contacted the press office on Wednesday.

Once the Politico story was published on Thursday evening, the RNC told ABC News that its insurance plan could only be changed by the party's 27-member executive committee.

Because of this procedural requirement, RNC chief of staff Ken McKay sent a memo to the RNC's 168 members saying that the chairman was calling on the party's 27-member executive committee to review the RNC's coverage of elective abortion in the “immediate future.”

Then, at 11:39 pm ET, the RNC went a step further and announced that Steele was taking matters into his own hands.

According to RNC press secretary Gail Gitcho, once Steele learned of the party's coverage of elective abortion, he “instructed the RNC Director of Administration to opt the RNC out of any coverage for elective abortion services in its health insurance policy.'

Abortion is a politically sensitive issue for Steele. Although he describes himself as pro-life, he has been criticized in the past by some conservatives because he believes that the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision upholding a federal right to abortion should remain in place under the doctrine of stare decisis.

Sen. Cardin: Senate Hopes to ‘Calm Down,’ Stay ‘Neutral’ on Abortion

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: As the House grapples with the fallout of a controversial compromise, Senate Democratic leaders are vowing to keep out provisions from the health care bill that abortion-rights advocates say would limit access to abortion.

On ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said senators hope to be “neutral” on the issue of abortion in the health care bill — using a standard similar to the one laid out by President Obama in an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper yesterday.

“We wanted to take up health care reform and not take sides on the abortion [issue],” Cardin told us. “Unfortunately, the Stupak amendment [in the House] does advance the pro-life position beyond where it is today, and that is something that I disagree with. I think a lot of my colleagues will be opposed to the Stupak amendment. Hopefully we’ll be able to resolve this in the Senate.”

Cardin, who served 20 years in the House before being elected to the Senate in 2006, applauded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer for cutting a deal that allowed the bill to move forward. But he made clear that the deal shouldn’t stand in the Senate.

“I think the speaker made a judgment that’s the only way she could get this bill moving. Now, on the floor of the Senate I hope that we can change that,” Cardin said. “Hopefully we’ll come out of conference with a bill that accomplishes the goal of health care reform, and can just ask people to calm down. This is not an abortion bill, as the president said. This is a bill on health care — let’s stick to health care.”

Cardin said also warned that President Obama won’t be able to count on automatic support from Democrats on his new strategy for Afghanistan.

“I think that there is a great deal of reluctance to committing any more combat troops in Afghanistan,” he said. “We’re going to wait for the president to give us his recommendations. But the circumstances in Afghanistan are such that I think most members of the Democratic caucus believe it’s up to the Afghans to take responsibility for the internal security within their own country — that we should be focusing on the war against terror, against the terrorists organizations, most of which are now in the Pakistan area, not Afghanistan. And that needs to be where we concentrate.”

Watch the full interview with Sen. Ben Cardin HERE.

Republican strategist Kevin Madden said that Democrats created a new distraction for themselves in how they handled the abortion issue on the House floor.

“This is one of those cases where when you map out the first five steps in front of you without looking at the next five miles, [and] you put yourself in a very tough predicament,” Madden said.

Watch the discussion with Kevin Madden HERE.