Washington, DC – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 227-188 today to in favor of HR 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act authored by U.S. Representatives Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL). This act would prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions under the Affordable Care Act. 221 Republicans and 6 Democrats voted for the ban while 187 Democrats and one Republican voted against it.
A new Kaiser Foundation study found that 6.1 million women will gain elective abortion coverage under Obamacare through the Medicaid expansion and new federal premium subsidies. H.R. 7 would essentially codify the executive order used in 2009 by President Obama to secure the final votes needed from pro-life Democrats in order to pass the health care overhaul.
President of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List Marjorie Dannenfelser, praised the legislation and, ahead of tonight’s State of the Union address, called on President Obama to support it.
“The SBA List is grateful for the bipartisan leadership of pro-life Representatives Chris Smith and Dan Lipinski in advancing this much needed legislation to fix the abortion funding problems in Obamacare. We expect the House to pass this measure and urge the Senate to follow suit. If President Obama was at all sincere when promising this protection in 2009, he should sign this legislation when it reaches his desk.”
“For four years, Americans have not ceased to fight the expansion of taxpayer funding of abortion, both in the legislature and in the courts. Even liberal members of the Supreme Court have taken action against the mandate to protect the religious freedom and conscience rights of vulnerable groups. The president and his administration should immediately stop this war on our nation’s founding principles,” Dannefelser added.
Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins responded, "This is a victory for taxpayers, women, and their unborn children. Today’s vote upholds our nation’s longstanding principle that no American should be forced to pay for other people’s abortions.
"We have no doubt that government funding for abortion will only increase the number of abortions, a prospect troubling to all but a handful of Americans. With the Obamacare rollout, it has become clear that Obamacare bypasses the Hyde Amendment and that many health plans being subsidized by the government cover elective abortion. Even more incredible is that Obamacare requires an abortion surcharge, of at least one dollar per month, which in most cases is not even revealed to consumers until after they enroll,” Perkins added. "This commonsense bill would restore government neutrality when it comes to abortion and permanently codify what has been law for over 30 years. Passage today also reflects the bi-partisan support Congress gave just last week to the Omnibus, which kept intact pro-life provisions that prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion in other areas of government.
"Pro-abortion House Members have refused to explain to the American people why they are opposed to the bill and instead have spent their time on the floor talking about other unrelated topics instead of the matter addressed in H.R. 7, the issue of taxpayer-funded abortion. They don’t want to talk about abortion funding because they know the American people are increasingly pro-life and are opposed to paying for the abortions of others," concluded Perkins.
The Affordable Care Act contained direct payments for abortion under risk pools and other clauses, included elective abortion plans in tax-preferred state exchanges, had a loophole allowing Congress and its staff to use federal dollars to buy plans with elective abortion coverage, and imposed a mandate on resistant employers to provide free coverage of abortion-inducing drugs.
The Kaiser study confirms earlier research done by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), the education and research arm of SBA List. In September, CLI released a study which found that as many as 111,500 additional abortions per year could be heavily subsidized by taxpayers via federal premium tax credits and Medicaid expansion in Obamacare.