Republicans have revived a proposal that would allow states to exclude abortion providers from the government-run Medicaid program.
The Women’s Public Health and Safety Act seeks to halt the millions of dollars that Planned Parenthood receives in Medicaid reimbursements.
According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, the abortion organization received $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements over the past three years.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a main sponsor of the abortion defunding bill, said the money accounts for 81 percent of federal tax dollars received by Planned Parenthood.
“Abortion is not health care,” Lankford said. “It should not be controversial to say that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to support abortion providers.”
Planned Parenthood didn’t respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment about the proposed measure.
In December 2022, before Republicans took control of the House, Planned Parenthood praised Democrat-led legislation calling for a record funding of more than $600 million to support abortion. The organization also sought to end the longstanding Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal Medicaid money for abortions.
“This amendment most harms people who, due to this country’s legacy of systemic racism and bias, have relied most on Medicaid—including black, Latino, and LGBT people,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.
Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), the main sponsor of the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, emphasized that each state can decide to opt in or out of Medicaid funding of abortions under the measure.
He cited a study that showed that 60 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer-funded abortions.
“For too long, abortion providers have operated on the taxpayers’ dime, while performing elective abortions in the name of ‘health care,'” Cloud said.
The bill, which traces its origins to a similar proposal made by Republicans in 2016, is supported by several pro-life organizations, including Students for Life Action, which recently exposed Christian colleges with ties to Planned Parenthood.
The Ethics and Public Policy Center HHS Accountability Project also has endorsed the legislation. The conservative organization opposes abortions and takes on the issue as a baby’s constitutional right to protection.
With a majority in the House, Republicans are introducing a number of measures that failed while the chamber was controlled by Democrats. Many of the bills are aimed at government funding for abortion.
Another revived bill this session is the Prohibiting Abortion on Federal Lands Act, which would prohibit any kind of promotion of abortion on federal property, including military installations, national parks, and courthouses.
The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, of which various versions have been introduced since 1998, is back before Congress. Under that legislation, anyone who transports a minor across state lines for an abortion and isn’t her parent would be charged criminally and face imprisonment.
Democrat Pro-Abortion Bills
Another Republican-sponsored bill, called the American Values Act, seeks to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, enacted during the Kennedy administration to exclude funding of abortions as a method of family planning.The Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act seeks to protect pharmacists who decline to fill prescriptions for abortion-inducing drugs based on their moral or religious beliefs and to provide them with an avenue to file a civil action lawsuit against a government agency that violates the proposed law.
In January, the House approved another new bill that would give infants who survived an abortion procedure the same right to medical assistance under current laws as other newborns. The bill translates that right into criminal prosecution of doctors who fail to resuscitate babies born following a failed abortion.
“A child who survives an abortion attempt, who is outside the womb, breathing and struggling for life, doesn’t deserve equal protection under the law?” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) asked at a hearing on the proposal.
While outnumbered by Republican-sponsored anti-abortion bills, there are some Democrat pro-abortion bills, including one that calls for the elimination of an existing risk evaluation requirement before receiving mifepristone.
Also known as RU-486, the oral medicine is used to trigger a miscarriage in the first 63 days of an unwanted pregnancy. It’s also used to end the second trimester of pregnancy.
In all, there are currently about 50 bills and another dozen proposed resolutions before Congress that deal with abortion.
