The No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act (HR 7), introduced by Hon. Chris Smith, R-NJ, passed the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday, January 24, 2017, with a 238 to 183 vote. This legislation would permanently ban taxpayer funding of abortion. The Trump administration has made it clear that this bill would be signed into law if it reached the President’s desk in its current form. It must now pass the Senate.
Those who favor and support de-funding taxpayer funding of abortion and killing unborn babies urge constituents to contact, write and email their U.S. Senators urging a “pass” vote on HR 7. Of course, those who want taxpayer dollars to continue to fund abortions — into the billions of dollars a year — are actively contacting legislators as well.
HR 7 makes the long-standing Hyde Amendment permanent. The Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates the Hyde Amendment has saved over two million lives since it was enacted in 1976. It also removes the funding of abortion from Obamacare, even during the interim while legislators determine how best to transition out of Obamacare and into something that will not break the financial backs of taxpayers and Obamacare users as has become the reality in 2017 when the healthcare reform act fully activated.
Lifesite news reports that according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 1,036 of Obamacare plans sold in 2014 included abortion on demand. Other Obamacare plans lack transparency on their abortion funding.
Some Democrats took to the House floor to say that Obamacare doesn’t fund abortions, which Smith rebutted with GAO statistics. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-MI, complained that HR 7 is “about going well beyond” the Hyde Amendment. Others defended Planned Parenthood and touted that they had participated in the Women’s March on Washington in their speeches against the bill.
Pro-life members of Congress pointed out that the legislation simply makes permanent what is already renewed annually by Congress, and that it allows for transparency on abortion coverage in healthcare plans.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-WY, blasted those using the “women’s march” as a way to imply they speak for all women, noting that pro-life feminists were excluded from it. She plugged Friday’s 44th annual March for Life. Rep. Diane Black, R-TN, also noted the hypocrisy of the women’s march excluding pro-life women.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-NC, called HR7 a “common-sense measure.” Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-MO, said she was “heartsick” to hear her colleagues celebrating the recent anniversary of Roe v. Wade and called them out for labeling abortion “care” instead of “taking life.”
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