It’s been nearly a month since Obamacare became law, and
Americans of all political stripes are scrambling to understand
its life-changing ramifications. For anti-abortion advocates, the
new law, by subsidizing abortion with taxpayer dollars,
represents the largest expansion of abortion since the Supreme
Court handed down its infamous Roe v. Wade decision
nearly 40 years ago.
But while Obamacare marks a unique development in abortion
funding, it is hardly the first time Americans have been forced
to underwrite the procedure. In fact, if you pay taxes or have a
certain type of health insurance, you are already paying for
other people’s abortions.
Let me first dispel the myth that the new law does not
cover abortion. Far from the president’s promise to “maintain the
status quo” on abortion, Obamacare allows direct federal funding
of abortions in community health centers. It also authorizes
taxpayer subsidies for health plans that cover abortions and
forces families in many health plans to pay a separate fee
specifically for other people’s abortions.
Concerns over these facts among some Democrats prompted
President Obama to issue an Executive Order that purportedly bars
abortion coverage. But executive orders don’t trump statutory
law. Which is why abortion rights groups are celebrating the new
law as a victory.
And it’s why pro-lifers are crying foul. They correctly
reference the roughly two-thirds of Americans (according to
numerous polls) who oppose taxpayer funding of abortions. Trouble
is, despite their aversion, most Americans already fund abortion
in various ways.
The Hyde Amendment bans use of taxpayer funds for abortions
under Medicaid. But Hyde includes exceptions for abortions in the
case of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother.
Plus, Hyde covers Medicaid regulations only at the federal
level. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia fund
abortions for low-income women, while 32 states pay for abortions
in the cases of life, incest and rape, as required by federal
Medicaid law. Several states even use taxpayer dollars to abort
babies at risk of being born with “severe”
disabilities.
The Mexico City Policy required non-governmental
organizations to agree not to perform or promote abortions in
other nations as a condition of getting federal funds. But
President Obama revoked that law on his first day in office. Now
hundreds of millions of dollars annually are being diverted to
groups that push abortion on poor women abroad.
In March 2009, President Obama announced $50
million in taxpayer funds for the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), a UN agency that has been criticized for promoting
abortion and for working closely with Chinese population control
officials, who force abortion and sterilization on their
citizens.
Also last March, Obama overturned by executive order
President Bush’s limits on taxpayer funding of human embryonic
stem cell (HESC) research, which destroys nascent human life. In
December, the National Institutes of Health approved funding of
27 HESC lines from Harvard University used in diabetes-related
pancreatic cell experiments.
But that’s not all. Planned Parenthood, which performs
roughly 250,000 abortions a year, receives $300 million annually
in taxpayer money.
Recent developments have only re-affirmed the Democratic
Party’s commitment to forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions. The
2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill includes a provision permitting
the D.C. government to use local tax revenues to provide
abortions, a move that reversed a long-standing
prohibition.
And in February the Obama administration began requiring
all U.S. military health facilities to stock the morning after
pill (Plan B), which can cause an early abortion by preventing
the embryo from implanting in the uterus.
Taxpayers underwrite abortion through the tax break
provided to employers that sponsor insurance plans. But you may
be surprised to know that nearly half of employer-sponsored
health plans have policies that cover abortion, according to the
Kaiser Family Foundation.
Obamacare’s abortion mandate is an abomination on many
levels, not least because it further exposes the hollowness of
the “pro-choice” position. But don’t kid yourself: If you pay
taxes (and in many cases if you have employer-sponsored health
coverage), your hard-earned money is already contributing to the
destruction of innocent human life.
