Ending Tax-Funded Abortion Services (H.R. 3932)

What is H.R. 3932?

(Updated July 14, 2021)

This bill would make it illegal to use federal funds to pay for any and all abortions.

While the law already prohibits the use of federal funds for most abortion services — aside from cases involving rape or incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger. However, these prohibitions are not part of a permanent statute. Instead, they’re re-approved by Congress each year through the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Human and Health Services (known as the Hyde Amendment).

If enacted, this bill would enshrine those prohibitions in a permanent law. It would also expand the ban on abortion services by:

• Making it illegal to include abortion services under any health care plans that are paid for with federal funds.
• Prohibiting abortion services in any federal or D.C. health care facilities. As an extension of this measure, any physicians employed by the federal government are also barred from practicing abortion services.
• Altering the definition of “qualified health plan” under the Internal Revenue Code so that it no longer includes plans that cover abortion (this basically means that individuals and small businesses won’t receive tax credits if they enroll in a health care plan that covers abortion services).
• Requiring the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to ensure that state health care exchanges—where people shop for health insurance plans-—don’t offer any coverage for abortion services that will be paid for with federal funds.

Finally, this bill would amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to create public notices for people shopping for health insurance. This would include information about the extent of coverage for abortion services by federal funds, as well as the cost of abortion procedures that an individual would have to pay out of pocket, separate from her premium.

Argument in favor

Separates abortion services entirely from federal funding, so taxpayers who oppose abortion won’t be forced to help pay for a service they oppose.

Argument opposed

Would compel insurers to drop plans that cover abortion all together, penalizing women who cannot fund abortions on their own.

Impact

Women who want access to abortions, insurance providers, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Internal Revenue Code, abortion providers, federally employed physicians and facilities that cover abortion services, and the Hyde Amendment.

Cost of H.R. 3932

The CBO does not have a cost estimate at this time. However, H.R. 3932 is identical to a bill introduced in the House this year — H.R. 7, No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. The CBO determined that H.R. 7 would affect direct spending, which means it would have a negligible effect on tax revenues.

Additional Info

In Depth:

In 1973, the Supreme Court upheld the right for women to have abortions in its decision on . In 1977, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which prohibited federal funds from being used to cover abortions.

Since then, political battles over abortion have mostly played out on the state level: Republican state officials have passed 205 statutes restricting abortions over the past three years, including measures that force a woman considering abortion to undergo an ultrasound. But the Republican Party has also taken steps to restrict access to abortion services on a national level.

This fight swung in favor of anti-abortion activists when the Supreme Court made its recent ruling on Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores. The court’s decision allows businesses to exclude coverage for contraceptives from employee health insurance if this violates an employer’s religious principles.

Despite these restrictions, abortions are not an uncommon experience for American women — one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach 45. Women who don’t use contraceptives, or who have difficulty accessing contraceptives, account for more than half of all abortions.

Although abortion is still a polarizing topic, polls show that at least half of Americans think abortions should be legal under certain circumstances, and 28 percent believe they should be legal under any circumstances.

Media:

Sponsoring Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Press Release

National Journal

Huffington Post