On Abortion, GOP Puts Tax Dollars in Life Savings

From Tony Perkins

Family Research Council

Sending in your taxes shouldn't mean signing over your beliefs. But when it comes to issues like abortion, that's exactly what the Obama administration is asking America to do. As pro-lifers, we have fought to give the medical community a way out of procedures they object to. As taxpayers, we deserve that same protection. No one should be forced into partnership with an industry that spills the blood of innocent unborn humans. And if Congressmen Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) get their way, no one will.

For years, they've been fighting to build a wall between taxpayer dollars and pro-abortion programs. In 2011, their "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" sailed through the House only to die at the Senate's front door. This year, the duo is trying again. With more than 145 co-sponsors, H.R. 7 would ensure that you and I aren't reluctant shareholders in the nation's abortion business -- in ObamaCare, domestic spending, and even foreign aid.

Yesterday, the House debated the bill in a feisty hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee. As always, emotions were close to the surface as the two parties sniped back and forth on the need for such a law. Not surprisingly, Democrats spent most of their time trying to persuade people that the bill would somehow ban abortion. Don't believe it. In fact, the legislation explicitly states that anyone who wants health insurance with abortion coverage or supplemental abortion coverage can purchase it -- just not with federal dollars.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler (R-N.Y.), who never misses an opportunity to mislead people on abortion-neutral legislation, insisted that "H.R. 7 is a radical departure from current tax treatment of medical expenses and insurance coverage, and it is neither justifiable nor necessary to prevent federal funding of abortion." No, Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.) fired back, "The real radical departure here is the fact that now we will have, for the first time, federal subsidies of health insurance policies [that include abortion] in America."

With ObamaCare barreling down the track, people on both sides of the issue recognize the importance of pulling the plug on taxpayer-involvement. At last check, a whopping 67% of Americans agreed. Unfortunately for them, the health care law has only entangled taxpayers deeper in the web of abortion. From the government's abortion surcharge to the abortion-heavy D.C. plans (which FRC's own Anna Higgins exposed), Americans are more implicated than ever in the procedure that a majority oppose.

Another one of the Left's convenient talking points is that the country doesn't need H.R. 7 because it has the Hyde Amendment (which strips taxpayer-funding of abortion in appropriations bills). But unlike H.R. 7, the Hyde Amendment has to be reauthorized every year to stay in effect. The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" would save Congress from that annual fight and create a permanent, government-wide ban on abortion funding -- not just for appropriations bills, but health care bills, overseas aid, and anything else that Congress subsidizes. Susan Woods, the Democrats' witness at Thursday's hearing, also claimed the bill would end private coverage of abortion -- which is ridiculous on its face. This may come as a shock to liberals, but just because the government doesn't fund something doesn't mean it ceases to exist.

Despite what the Left would have you believe, the Smith-Lipinski measure wouldn't outlaw abortion, it would just make the government neutral on the question of taxpayer-funding. That's what Americans want -- and it's what our unborn citizens deserve.

For more on this important conscience preserving bill and what it could mean for the nation, don't miss next Wednesday's policy lecture (featured here in the Washington Examiner) at FRC headquarters (801 G Street, NW, Washington, D.C.) with one of the legislation's sponsors, Rep. Chris Smith. Click here to register. If the Left wants to know why the GOP is "still talking about abortion," it's simple. Because Americans are still forced to fund it! Learn what you can do to change that on January 15.