House Passes Bill Banning Insurance Coverage for Abortion Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666; media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives today passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which denies tax credits to small businesses and middle-class families if their health plans include abortion coverage, and imposes a tax increase on women who need abortion care. It also makes permanent abortion bans that prevent millions of women — such as those enrolled in Medicaid, federal employees and residents of the District of Columbia — from having health insurance coverage that includes abortion care.

“In an effort to impose one narrow ideology on the lives of American women, these lawmakers hope to rewrite tax law to penalize a single, legal medical procedure: abortion,” said Dena Sher, ACLU legislative counsel. “Congress needs to lift restrictions on abortion coverage, not enact extreme and dangerous bans that interfere with a person’s private medical decisions.”

Each year, Congress must consider several provisions on appropriations bills that single out and exclude abortion from a host of programs that fulfill the government’s obligation to provide health care to certain populations, including Native Americans, Peace Corps volunteers, women eligible for Medicaid, and women in federal prisons. This bill would make these provisions permanent.

The ACLU’s letter in opposition to the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is available at:
aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/hr_7_aclu_letter_to_house_of_representatives_opposing_no_taxpayer_funding_for_abortion_act_1-27-14_final.pdf