The House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would set as permanent law the prohibition against taxpayer funding for abortion – except in cases or rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is at risk – which is usually attached to congressional appropriations through the Hyde Amendment each year.
Read related articles: America Hinges on Defunding Planned Parenthood and also GOP Senate RINOs Fund Planned Parenthood
UPDATE 5/5/11: Senate companion bill introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
-- From "House passes anti-abortion bill" by Stephanie Condon, CBS News 5/4/11
The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" [H.R. 3] passed by a vote of 251 to 175. The vote was a signal that House Republicans are committed to satisfying their social conservative base, even as Congress continues weighty debates over the federal budget.
Rep. Scott Garrett called the measure a "commonsense bill" that would "do away with the patchwork ban" currently in place to restrict federal funding of abortions.
The legislation would impose a permanent bar on any federal spending for abortion care -- including tax credits for private plans that cover abortion. Republicans have argued that the bill would simply codify the government's commitment to the Hyde amendment, which bans federal funding of abortions. (Lawmakers need to renew the amendment each year.)
Democrats, however, call the bill an effective tax hike on insurance companies that choose to cover abortion. Most employer-provided private health insurance plans provide coverage for abortions.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "House OKs limits on tax breaks for abortions" by The Associated Press 5/4/11
The bill, which passed 251-175, was the latest Republican effort to chip away at President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and follow through on the GOP's campaign promise to keep taxpayers from underwriting abortions.
The measure has little chance of advancing in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the Obama administration has threatened to veto it.
The bill would prevent people from deducting the cost of an abortion from their taxable income, except when the procedure is performed in cases of rape, incest or when a physician certifies that a woman's life would be in danger if she continues the pregnancy.
Supporters of the bill passed Wednesday say the health overhaul doesn't go far enough to make sure that no tax money is used to subsidize abortions. Congressional estimates say the bill would raise only a negligible amount of tax revenue.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "House Passes Law Against Abortion Funding; ‘Taking of Innocent Life is Not Health Care,’ Says Congressman" by Penny Starr, CNSNews.com 5/4/11
HR 3, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” bans federal funding of abortion; disallows tax benefits for paying for an abortion; prohibits taxpayer funding of federal health care services and those in the District of Columbia that include abortion; and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate any violation of the law through the implementation of Obamacare.
The law also protects from employment-discrimination those health care professionals who are morally opposed to promoting or performing abortions.
The battle now shifts to the Senate where a companion bill is expected to be introduced on Thursday by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "House passes bill that would prohibit all federal funding of abortion" by Steven Nelson, The Daily Caller 5/4/11
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.”
The administration asserts that “longstanding Federal policy prohibits Federal funds from being used for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or when the life of the woman would be endangered.” The bill, according to the administration, “goes well beyond these safeguards by interfering with consumers’ private health care choices.”
In February, Florida [Democrat] Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the bill “a violent act against women in and of itself.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
