The abortion lobby is gearing up this week to fight for scarce taxpayer dollars. Last week, Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced S. 906, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act in the Senate. S. 906 ensures that Americans are not forced to watch their tax dollars support elective abortion or insurance plans that cover elective abortion with their tax dollars The Senate bill is companion legislation to H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act, which passed in the House by a bi-partisan vote of 251-175 last week.
“The passage of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act with a strong, bipartisan majority of House members is a crucial step forward and one we hope to replicate in the Senate,” Senator Wicker said. “Our goal is to codify in a single federal act a policy that has been endorsed again and again by the Congress and which has overwhelming public support – that of withholding taxpayer funding of abortion.”
A large group of Senators, including Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced another critical piece of legislation last Wednesday that prevents the federal funding of abortion in President Obama’s pro-abortion health care law: S. 877, The Protect Life Act.
Like its companion bill in the House—and consistent with longstanding federal law and policy—S. 877 ensures that no funds appropriated through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) can be used for abortion or insurance plans that provide abortion coverage. The bill also closes loopholes in PPACA that could otherwise be used to require private insurance companies to cover abortion. In addition, the Protect Life Act protects health care providers from discrimination for refusal to participate in abortion by codifying the Hyde-Weldon conscience clause.
“Forcing Americans to pay for abortion services with their own dollars is a grave abuse of government authority. The administration’s track record of ambiguity in this area underscores the need for federal legislation clarifying, once and for all, that public funds will not be used to pay for abortion services under the new health law,” Senator Coburn said.
To encourage your Senator to support S. 877, click here.
(Source: Americans United for Life)
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