In a moment of true irony, Politico discovered that the RNC had a health care plan for their employees that covered abortion services. Now the RNC, after having taken flak from the usual suspects, is taking swift action.

The Republican National Committee will no longer offer employees an insurance plan that covers abortion after POLITICO reported Thursday that the anti-abortion RNC’s policy has covered the procedure since 1991.

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

Steele has told the committee’s director of administration to opt out of coverage for elective abortion in the policy it uses from Cigna.

The larger point here is that the RNC, as a large employer, didn’t specially select a special abortion plan in their health insurance coverage. They just bought an off-the-shelf plan. And most, if not all of them, offer reproductive choice services. To the insurer, it’s cheaper and easier to provide a standard plan.

There is no indication that any RNC employee has used the abortion coverage, but Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said it’s “no surprise” that the RNC is offering it.

“It’s an employer that wants to provide standard health benefits for its employees,” she said. “That’s why the Stupak amendment goes too far in taking away benefits that women have today, and that’s why women won’t allow the Stupak amendment to become law.”

The normality of large employers providing a health care package that covers reproductive choice services does prove the extreme nature of the Stupak amendment.