Tag Archives: Hyde Amendment

Low-Income Women Don’t Want Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

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A new abortion group is taking a bus tour this summer to push for taxpayer funded abortions. It’s a bold move, given that most Americans don’t want their taxes to pay for abortions, according to several polls. And the group knows it.

Mom-and-ChildThat’s why the “Be Bold” bus tour is couching abortion in terms of income inequality, an issue that’s more palatable to young Americans especially.

From the article:

“Thanks to the 37-year-old Hyde Amendment, the federal policy that prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortion services, the low-income women who rely on the Medicaid program often have no affordable options for ending a pregnancy. Hyde, which has spawned similar restrictions on the state level and in other government programs, ensures that abortion access has been firmly divided along economic and racial lines for nearly as long as it’s been legal in this country.”

The problem – well, one of the problems – is that the group assumes low-income women  want abortions. They don’t. A Rand study showed that 55 percent of low-income respondents oppose taxpayer funding for abortion. It’s actually the wealthy (56 percent) who want taxpayer-funded abortions for the poor, according to the study.

Forcing taxpayers to fund abortions seems like an excuse for not helping low-income families in the ways they want to be helped. Instead of pushing taxpayer-funded abortions on women who don’t want them, we should be offering more resources to help pregnant and parenting moms and their babies.

If someone you know is pregnant and needs help, click here or call the Pennsylvania pregnancy hotline at 1-888-LIFE-AID.

Do Our Tax Dollars Fund Abortions?

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The issue of tax dollars paying for abortions can be complex and confusing. But it is happening, and taxpayers deserve to know the truth.

abortion-is-not-healthcareYou may remember that in 2013, Pennsylvania legislators passed Act 13, which stops taxpayer funding of abortion in the health insurance exchange created in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

It was a big victory for Pennsylvania. We know that more abortions occur when tax dollars pay for them. We also know that polls consistently show a strong majority of Americans don’t want their tax dollars to pay for abortions.

Unfortunately, there are other avenues through which our tax dollars pay for abortion.

The nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, received $540 million in taxpayer funding in 2012. While the agency isn’t supposed to use that money for abortion, some former Planned Parenthood employees have said they do it anyway.

Another way our tax dollars go toward abortion is through the United Nations Population Fund. The U.S. gives millions to the UNFPA and other organizations that perform abortions overseas. Disturbingly, this includes support for the forced abortions that take place because of China’s One Child policy.

As if this isn’t enough, lately I’ve seen a growing push from pro-abortion advocates to overturn the pro-life Hyde Amendment, which protects our taxes from pay for abortions in health care programs such as Medicaid.

We have created a new petition to help us in our work to protect our tax dollars from paying for the deaths of innocent preborn babies. Sign the petition here.

Why Hyde Amendment Won’t Prohibit Govt-Funded Abortion in Health Insurance Exchange

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Right now, Pennsylvania legislators are considering two bills that would allow our state to opt-out of abortion coverage in the state health insurance exchange programs under the Affordable Care Act.

The Pennsylvania House and Senate must pass an opt-out bill before January 1, 2014, or public funding of abortion will happen in Stop Abortion MandatesPennsylvania.

But some people have asked how that is possible. Doesn’t the Hyde Amendment prohibit government funding of abortions?

The simple answer is no, not under the federal health care law.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, explains in more detail:

“In reality, the Hyde Amendment is not a government-wide law — it applies only to funds appropriated through the annual appropriations bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services. As National Right to Life has pointed out … and as the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service confirmed in two memoranda …, none of the funds that would be expended by the public plan, and none of the funds that will subsidize the purchase of private insurance plans, will ever flow through an HHS appropriations bill. Therefore, none of the funds will be covered by the Hyde Amendment.”

FactCheck.org also wrote an article calling out President Obama in 2009 for his false claim that there will not be government funding of abortion in the health care law.

This is why opt-out legislation must be passed in Pennsylvania. Please check out our legislative director’s excellent column on The Patriot-News to learn more about this important legislation.