Posted by: Antoinette Bonsignore
The sponsors of “The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (H.R.3) do not seek to codify the existing the Hyde Amendment to prevent federal funding of abortions – there is no federal funding of abortions in the U.S. The sponsors of H.R.3 seek to go far beyond the Hyde Amendment to prevent all women from obtaining abortion services. In 1976 the Hyde Amendment created a two tier system that discriminates against poor women seeking abortions. But now H.R.3 would increase taxes on people and small businesses by specifically targeting private health insurance plans that cover abortion. More than 80% of health insurance plans cover abortion and those plans would become ineligible for government reimbursements for health care costs. It will raise taxes on anyone with private insurance that covers abortion regardless of whether you use the abortion coverage in your plan or not. The inevitable consequence will be that insurance companies will stop covering abortion services.
According to a Guttmacher Institute study “…87% of typical employer-based insurance policies in 2002 covered medically necessary or appropriate abortions.”
H.R.3 would effectively ban abortion coverage in the new health insurance exchanges that will be created under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.
· Denying tax credits to employers or other entities that pay for health plans that cover abortion
· Denying tax credits to individuals or entities that pay for abortion care
· Disallowing medical deductions for payments for any health plan that includes abortion coverage or for any medical expenses related to abortion care
· Treating as income any amounts paid for an abortion from a tax-preferred trust or account, such as a health savings account
Yet the GOP’s war on women goes well beyond H.R.3.
