More Life in the House

 From Tony Perkins, President
Family Research Council

Last month's successful vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in the U.S. House, which restricts abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, appears to have given a boost to pro-life efforts in states like Texas and North Carolina. There's more good news on the pro-life front here in Washington, as House appropriators tackled the funding of abortion in an Obamacare program.

We've written about the many abortion problems with Obamacare, but a lesser-known problem involves the program Obamacare created called "multi-state plans." This program will provide government contracted health plans across state lines. The plans offered will be managed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which already oversees federal employee health plans and these plans can include abortion coverage.

Pro-life Congressman Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) had already introduced the "Stop Abortion Funding in Multi-State Exchange Plans Act" or "SAFE Act" (H.R. 346) precisely to prevent these government plans from covering abortion. Since OPM and other agencies, like the Treasury Department, are funded each year by the Financial Services Appropriations bill, the Congressman thought "why not use this spending bill as an opportunity to defend life?" That's exactly what Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and the Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) did.

The bill each year already includes Rep. Chris Smith's (R-N.J.) pro-life provision barring funds for abortion coverage in the federal health employee benefits plans, and a provision barring funding of abortion in the District of Columbia, so they thought it reasonable to include it in the OPM-run multi-state plans. A majority on the committee agreed and the bill passed yesterday in the subcommittee with the Nunnelee language!

However, pro-abortion stalwart Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) has already threatened to offer amendments in the full committee next week to strike the Nunnelee language. Like other pro-life funding provisions on the appropriations bill, this one needs your support. You can find a listing of the committee members here, and you can contact them at (202) 224-3121.

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