“This effort will more permanently protect taxpayers from subsidizing abortionists through use of healthcare funds,” said AUL Action’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (02-26-15) – “Most Americans are unaware that multiple, taxpayer-supported income streams end up in abortion providers’ pockets,” observed Americans United for Life Action President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest. “AUL Action calls on the U.S. Senate to pass the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, as a critical first step toward ensuring that real healthcare respects life. This bi-partisan effort will more permanently protect taxpayers from subsidizing abortionists through use of healthcare funds.”
“AUL Action thanks both Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) for leading the effort to win passage of the act, which establishes a permanent, government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding for both abortion and insurance plans which include abortion coverage,” said Dr. Yoest.
In 1980, AUL won a historic victory for the Hyde Amendment in the Harris v. McRae case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Thirty-five years later it is clear that the Hyde Amendment does more than keep tax dollars out of abortionists’ hands – Hyde saves lives. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute acknowledges that the best studies show that “18-37% of pregnancies that would have ended in Medicaid-funded abortions were instead carried to term.”
Currently, pro-life advocates must work each year to renew the Hyde Amendment and other abortion funding restrictions, which prevent some federal funds from paying for abortions. However, abortion advocates in government are fighting to eliminate these protections.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act would also close abortion-funding loopholes created by Obamacare, a landmark anti-life law that permits funding for abortion and life-ending drugs and devices. And despite pro-life efforts, Obamacare was written so that the Hyde Amendment did not apply.
Problems with the law include:
- Failing to prohibit the use of federal tax dollars for abortion, abortion coverage, and abortion-inducing drugs and devices.
- Pretending that the Hyde Amendment applied to the law and prohibited direct payment for abortions.
- Permitting federally subsidized Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) to provide abortion coverage through the state insurance exchanges required in all 50 states.
- Failing to prohibit all multi-state qualified health plans from providing coverage for abortion.
- Including a “preventive care” mandate that is being used to force coverage of drugs and devices known to end life.
- Failing to provide comprehensive First Amendment conscience protections for individuals, employers, and insurance companies that have religious or moral objections to abortion.
In addition to the life-saving protections of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, AUL Action supports state and federal legislation, such as the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, that ensure health care and family planning tax dollars are not exploited by the abortion industry.
“The abortion industry has infiltrated a number of federal and state programs in order to take limited taxpayer dollars for their deadly business,” noted Dr. Yoest. “This bill cuts funds for abortion payments and is a critical first step. AUL Action is leading state and federal efforts on additional protections that are necessary as Planned Parenthood, Abortion Inc., has collected billions in taxpayer funds through their aggressive lobbying efforts.”
To learn more about the tax monies going to the abortion industry, visit www.NoAbortionTax.com.
To learn more about the health risks of abortion for women, click here.
