Congress Targets Insurance Coverage of Abortion

On the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have decided to move forward with the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act after dropping the Pain Capable Un­born Child Protection Act.

On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled unani­mously that a woman’s decision to have an abortion falls under the right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th amendment. Coin­cidentally, House Republicans de­cided to push the HR36 bill-the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act on the same day, 42 years later. The bill’s main purpose would be to pro­hibit women from getting abortions after 20 weeks. At the last moment, the provision that requires women to file a police report in cases of rape to legally abort was added. The House Republicans got a push back from the female Republicans, pointing out that support from women and young vot­ers would be lost, so the bill was sub­sequently dropped.

On the same day, after HR36 was dropped, HR7, the No Taxpayer Fund­ing for Abortions Act was passed in the House. This new bill prohibits the use of Medicaid for abortion pur­poses, and restricts women’s ability to buy private insurance with abortion coverage. This bill denies a small busi­ness tax credit that they get through Obamacare, if abortion care is in­cluded in health insurance plans from the employer. This bill has passed in the House, but still has to pass the Senate and President Obama.