No Federal Funding for Abortion Services (With Exceptions) (H.R. 7)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is H.R. 7?
(Updated March 16, 2022)
This bill would ban federal tax dollars from being spent to provide for abortions. It would make the Hyde Amendment a permanent law, and also ban federal funds from being applied to health coverage plans that include abortion services. Additionally, the District of Columbia would be prohibited from using locally generated tax revenue to offer abortion services.
The bill would require insurance companies to prominently disclose which plans offer abortion coverage in all marketing materials or benefit summaries.
Federal abortion funding would be authorized for cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening birth complications, but no tax dollars could be used for any other type of abortion.
Argument in favor
This bill would protect the innocent lives of unborn babies and the healthcare providers who do not wish to participate in abortions, while still allowing abortion under dire circumstances. Taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize abortions.
Argument opposed
This would restrict women's reproductive freedom and access to healthcare while disproportionately hurting the poor and people of color. Besides, the ban on federal abortion funding is already in place and taxpayer dollars don't go to abortions.
Impact
Women; individuals who buy health insurance or get it through their work; employers who offer healthcare plans to their workers; abortion providers; insurance companies; and the federal government.
Cost of H.R. 7
According to a CBO estimate of this bill's counterpart in the 113th Congress, this legislation would have a negligible effect on direct spending over the 2014-2024 period.
Additional Info
Of Note: The Hyde Amendment, which is a law that is often attached to must-pass bills like budgets rather than being codified on its own, bans federal funds distributed by the Dept. of Health and Human Services from being used for abortions, except for in cases of rape or incest, or to save the mother from birth complications.
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. That said, many members of Congress have 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 ruling on . 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 — in 2013 the abortion rate was 12.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Women who don’t use contraceptives, or who have difficulty accessing contraceptives, account for more than half of all abortions.
Abortion is still a polarizing topic: polls show that about half of Americans think abortions should be legal under certain circumstances -- meaning that they support some restrictions -- and 28 percent believe abortions should be legal under any circumstances. Nineteen percent believe that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.
Pro-choice activists claim that the Hyde Amendment and other anti-abortion measures disproportionately affect women of color and immigrants who rely almost entirely on public funding for abortion services.Media:
- Sponsoring Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) Press Release (113th Congress)
- Washington Post (Previous Version)
- Mother Jones (Previous Version)
- Susan B. Anthony List (In Favor) (Previous Version)
- RH Reality Check (Previous Version)
- Guttmacher Institute: Abortion Facts (Previous Version)
(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
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