The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill that would prevent women from using tax benefits for health care to cover the cost of abortions.
-- From "House Panel Votes to Exclude Abortion From Health Tax Breaks" by Richard Rubin, Bloomberg 3/31/11
The 22-14 vote today sends the bill to the full U.S. House of Representatives, which plans to consider the measure before the House leaves Washington on April 15 for its next recess, according to Laena Fallon, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. The committee vote was along party lines, with all 22 panel Republicans voting in favor and all 14 Democrats who were present voting against the measure.
The legislation would bar women from using abortion costs to claim deductions for medical expenses exceeding 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income. They also couldn’t receive tax credits established under last year’s health-care law for insurance if it includes abortion coverage.
The measure doesn’t address the two largest tax breaks for health care. Even if it passes, employers could still deduct the costs of health insurance that covers abortion and employees could receive such coverage without its value counting as taxable income.
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From "House Panel Passes Bill to Remove Tax Incentives for Abortion" by Nathan Black, Christian Post Reporter 3/31/11
"This legislation will ensure that not only will abortion funding be removed from Obamacare and the District of Columbia, but that the tax credits under Obamacare and tax incentives in current law will no longer create a government incentive to pay for abortions," commented Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
The measure is a companion bill to the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," which was sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) in an effort to effectively prevent federal funding of abortion.
Though current law bars federal dollars from being used for abortions, Republicans remain unconvinced that tax money will not go toward subsidizing abortions under the new health care law.
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