NEW YORK, NY November 11, 2009 —Congresswoman Nita Lowey has been widely quoted for calling an abortion restriction in the House health care bill “reprehensible.” But Lowey’s office now says she misspoke when she warned the bill would restrict access to abortion coverage. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: A spokesman for Lowey says she wasn’t trying to scare people, but her statement made it seem as if almost everyone would be restricted from getting coverage for abortions, whether insured privately or publicly. After the journalistic organization Politifact called Lowey’s claim false, a spokesman for her office conceded she shouldn’t have said all private insurance coverage would be affected. Under the House bill many of the uninsured who get coverage would do so by using government subsidies to purchase plans through an “exchange” of private insurance companies. For this group of people it would be almost impossible to get coverage for abortions. But the majority of people would be covered. They get insurance through employers or through Medicaid or Medicare. The debate now moves to the Senate, where several senators have also criticized the proposed abortion restrictions. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.