Tag Archives: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act

Obama threatens to veto No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act

Life News reports:

Yesterday, the House passed legislation that will put in place a complete ban on taxpayer funding of abortions that ensures abortions are not directly funded in any federal governmental program or department. The president says he will veto it.

The legislation combines several policies that must be enacted every year in Congressional battles and puts them into law where they will not be in jeopardy of being overturned every time Congress changes hands from pro-life lawmakers to those who support abortions.

The House voted 242-179 for the bill with 239 Republicans and three Democrats voting to ban taxpayer funding of abortions under HR7 while 178 Democrats and one Republican voted against it.

Despite strong support for the bill and expected passage in the Senate, as well as strong public opinion , pro-abortion President Barack Obama says he will veto the legislation.

“I am deeply committed to protecting this core constitutional right, and I believe that efforts like H.R. 7, the bill the House considered today, would intrude on women’s reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restrict the private insurance choices that consumers have today,” Obama said in a statement objecting to the bill.

But, according to a Marist poll released today, 68 percent of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.

The bill has been around a few years but has only been approved in the House thanks to a pro-abortion Senate. The House voted 227-188 for the bill in 2014 and, on May 4, 2011, the House passed HR 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, on a 251-175 vote with Republicans voting 235-0 for the bill and Democrats voting 175-16 against it.

Now that Republicans have taken over the Senate from pro-abortion Democrats, the bill is finally expected to receive a vote in the upper chamber.

[…]A majority of Americans object to the use of taxpayer money for funding abortion, according to numerous polls — including a survey CNN conducted in early April showing Americans oppose public funding of abortion by a margin of 61% to 35%.

The bill will also mitigate concerns about abortion funding in the various loopholes in the Obamacare national health care bill that various pro-life organizations warned about during debate on the law. The legislation did not contain language banning funding of abortions in its provisions and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act would fix that problem.

So, if you are a pro-lifer, and you don’t want to subsidize the murder of unborn children, then maybe you should not vote for Democrats like Obama. Abortion is the biggest moral issue of our generation. It’s very important to understand that if we allow the people who are irresponsible with sex to face the costs of their sexual lifestyle, then they will adjust their decision-making. The more the government takes over health care and reduces or eliminates the costs of immoral behavior for people, the more immoral behavior there will be.

The best thing we can do to discourage immorality is to let people bear the costs of their lifestyle choices themselves. That can include contraceptives, sexually transmitted disease treatment, abortion costs, single mother welfare, sex changes, and so on. One of the reasons why we have such a growth in immoral behavior is because generous Christians and conservatives keep falling for the plea for “compassion” made by big government leftists. Well, we have to decide now that we are not going to pay people to be immoral. That money has to come from somewhere, you know. And the more you pay people to do something, the more they do it.

There is some good news though – the Republicans are going to try again to get a vote on that ban on abortions after 20 weeks.

House Republicans unanimously support No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act

Unborn baby scheming about defunding abortion
Unborn baby scheming about defunding abortion

The Dailer Caller reports on the roll call for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. (H/T Mary)

Excerpt:

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would prohibit all federal funding for abortions. The bill was approved by a vote of 251-175.

The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” amends the existing Hyde amendment. The Hyde amendment currently prohibits most federal funding for abortions.

In a press release, bill sponsor Republican Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey wrote, “one thing is clear: federal funding of abortion will lead to more abortions.”

Smith wrote, “In 2009, there were only 220 government-financed abortions. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the federal government would pay for as many as 675,000 abortions each year without the Hyde Amendment and other provisions that prevent federal funding of abortion.”

[…]Smith’s statement said that the bill “simply protects taxpayers from having to fund or subsidize something they morally oppose.”

All House Republicans who voted supported the legislation; they were joined by 16 House Democrats.

The White House strongly opposes the bill. In a policy statement, the administration wrote that the bill “intrudes on women’s reproductive freedom and access to health care; increases the tax burden on many Americans; unnecessarily restricts the private insurance choices that consumers have today; and restricts the District of Columbia’s use of local funds, which undermines home rule.”

Life News reports that the public supports banning funding for abortions:

A majority of Americans object to the use of taxpayer money for funding abortion, according to numerous polls — including a survey CNN conducted in early April showing Americans oppose public funding of abortion by a margin of 61% to 35%.

And also notes that cutting off funding makes a big difference in the number of abortions:

Congressman Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who is the lead sponsor of the bill, informed the House that a study by the Guttmacher Institute, the pro-abortion former research apparatus of Planned Parenthood, released a study noting that one-quarter of women who otherwise would have had abortions chose to give birth when taxpayer dollars were not available to pay for abortions of their children.

The Heritage Foundation explains what the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act does.

Excerpt:

H.R. 3 seeks to prohibit federal funding of abortion by permanently codifying an array of protections against government subsidies for abortions.

[…]H.R. 3 would permanently prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize elective abortions. In addition to addressing the various loopholes for federal abortion funding, the bill prevents funding for:

  • Elective abortion through appropriations for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
  • International aid for contraceptive programs where abortion is used as a method of family planning;
  • Insurance coverage for federal employees that includes elective abortions; and
  • Subsidized abortion with monies congressionally appropriated for the District of Columbia, as well as locally generated tax dollars.

[…]H.R. 3… also addresses the conscience rights of pro-life medical professionals and institutions. Both the weak conscience protections in the PPACA and the Obama Administration’s recent decision to partially rescind federal conscience regulations have placed the rights of doctors, pharmacists, and hospitals in a precarious situation. Codifying the annual Hyde–Weldon clause, H.R. 3 provides protection from discrimination in federally funded programs to medical professionals and institutions that decline participation in abortion.

The Weekly Standard notes that the tally could have been even higher. Five Republicans did not vote, and they are all pro-life.