Pro-life members of Congress reinforced Jan. 20 their intention to prohibit federal funding of abortion by introducing two bills: one that would accomplish the feat across the board and one that would do so in last year’s health care law.
The introduction of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, H.R. 3, and Protect Life Act, H.R. 358, came one day after the House of Representatives voted 245–189 to repeal the health care measure dubbed “Obamacare” by its critics.
One of the reasons for the effort to rescind the 2010 law was its authorization of subsidies for insurance plans that cover abortion.
The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., with 161 co-sponsors, would institute a permanent, governmentwide ban on federal funds and subsidies for abortion. It would serve to standardize bans on abortion funding that now exist in various federal programs, many of which have to be approved each year, and make certain the prohibition extends to all agencies.
The Protect Life Act, introduced by Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., with 89 co-sponsors, would amend last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to bar federal money from paying for abortion or abortion coverage.
Speaker of the House John Boehner called Smith’s bill “one of our highest legislative priorities” and designated it as H.R. 3 to demonstrate its importance.
“A ban on taxpayer funding of abortion is the will of the people and ought to be the law of the land,” Boehner said at a Jan. 20 news conference announcing its introduction. (BP)
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