Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) suggested Tuesday that President Obama's health care reform law could give the government a dangerous amount of power in individual's health care decisions, going as far as to say "it isn't farfetched" that the federal government could try to limit birth rates by refusing to cover associated health costs after a family has a certain number of children.
Bachmann, appearing on Glenn Beck's online television network, argued that women had "a lot to lose" under the president's policies. Her argument was intended as a rebuttal of arguments from Democrats who have said in recent weeks that the GOP is alienating female voters by opposing federal subsidies for contraception.
"I think it is a mistake to get caught in a trap the left would love us to be playing in," Bachmann said.
The Minnesota congressman went on to suggest that the president's argument that contraceptive access was cost-effective - since an insurance company ends up paying significantly higher costs when pregnancies occur - was a slippery slope.
"Women have a lot to lose under Obamacare If you want to go into specifics, what the government gives, the government can take away. It certainly isn’t beyond the pale to think, in light of Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary — she said that it’s important that we have contraceptives because that prevents pregnancy, and pregnancy is more expensive to the federal government. Going with that logic, according to our own Health and Human Services secretary, it isn’t far-fetched to think that the President of the United States could say ‘we need to save health care expenses — the federal government will only pay for one baby to be born in the hospital per family, or two babies to be born per family.’ That could happen. We think it couldn’t?” Bachmann said.
Anchor Amy Holmes then interjects, asking Bachmann if she was "suggesting that this administration, or a next administration, would actually advocate a one-child policy like Communist China?”
Bachmann said that while she didn't believe Obama would do so, his power as a "healthcare dictator" gave him the opportunity to pursue such a policy.
“I’m not saying he is going to do it, I’m saying he has the power and authority to do it," Bachmann said.
