Ignoring Dangers to Women, House Committee Passes “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act"
For Immediate Release: Jan. 15, 2014
“The intent of this bill is clear: to undermine access to comprehensive women’s health care and eliminate access to abortion, even in cases where a woman’s health is in danger.”- Cecile Richards
WASHINGTON, DC -- Planned Parenthood Action Fund condemned legislation passed by the House Judiciary Committee today outlawing abortion coverage in insurance plans, taking away the comprehensive private health insurance coverage that millions of women have today. The all-male majority of the Judiciary Committee was met with vocal opposition from women members of the House who spoke out against this attack on women’s health at the first committee mark-up of the year.
The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” would not only raise taxes for many women and businesses, but could also require women to prove to the IRS that they were raped in order to access a safe and legal abortion. Ultimately, this bill is designed to deny women access to abortion by taking away their insurance coverage, and would be especially harmful to low-income women, who might otherwise not be able to afford a safe and legal abortion.
A 2013 nationwide poll conducted by Hart Research showed that a strong majority of voters – Republicans (62 percent), Democrats (78 percent), and Independents (71 percent) – say these issues are the wrong issues for Congress and their state legislatures to be spending time on.
Statement from Cecile Richards, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund:
“It is incredible that a narrow group of far-right politicians are continuing to push forward harmful legislation that would deny women comprehensive health coverage and eliminate access to safe and legal abortion — while raising taxes on women and businesses. The bill would be especially harmful for women struggling to make ends meet, who may not be able to afford a safe and legal abortion without insurance coverage.
“Instead of focusing on issues important to their constituents, these out-of-touch House members are still pursuing deeply unpopular attacks on women’s health. Unbelievably, this comes only a month after Republican leadership was holding seminars to teach their candidates how to talk to and about women, and yet now they’re back to their same old attacks on women’s health.
“This bill is nothing more than an attempt to eliminate abortion access and undermine a woman’s ability to make personal decisions about her own health care. Congress should listen to the American people and reject this bill. ”
H.R. 7 is dangerous to women’s health and takes away important tax benefits from American families and small businesses:
- The bill seeks to raise taxes for families by denying women and families, whose health insurance plans include abortion coverage, the federal subsidies they are entitled to under the Affordable Care Act.
- The bill threatens women’s health by denying access to health insurance coverage that includes coverage of abortion beyond the circumstances of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is in danger.
- This legislation harms women at home and abroad because it does not allow any exceptions for women to get the coverage they need when their health is in danger, even in circumstances where a woman needs an abortion to prevent severe, permanent damage to her health.