Another Obama Lie: Taxpayers Forced to Pay for Abortion

Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, reports on what we knew was going to another of President Barack Obama's lies -- taxpayer-funded abortions ...In September 2009 as Congress was debating whether to pass the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), President Barack Obama made these promises to the American people:“Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”Less than a year later in March 2010, President Obama purported to follow his promise concerning abortion funding with Executive Order 13535, where he ordered that Obamacare would be carried out consistent with the longstanding policy of the Hyde Amendment.The Hyde Amendment, consistently passed by Congress since the 1970s, prohibits federal taxpayer funds for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.You may remember that it was these promises to ensure federal taxpayer dollars would not pay for elective abortions that secured the final votes needed to pass Obamacare.Since its passage, we have learned that the government could not force businesses to pay for abortion causing drugs – see Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell. It took a U.S. Supreme Court decision to secure that basic right.And in spite of the many assurances to the contrary, we now have definitive proof that President Obama broke his promise on taxpayer funding of abortion as well.On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report that proves Obamacare subsidizes abortion on demand with taxpayer funds.GAO found that 1,036 Obamacare plans include elective abortion coverage, with millions of Americans on those plans receiving taxpayer-funded subsidies. Moreover, the report goes on to reveal that most of those plans fail to itemize out an additional premium to account for the abortion coverage as required by Obamacare.Finally, the 22-page report noted the sheer difficulty in finding out which plans do and which plans do not include coverage for elective abortion. Consumers can’t find out if a plan covers elective abortion until after purchasing the plan.Impact on ArizonaSince the passage of Obamacare in 2010, Arizona has been at the forefront of working to protect taxpayers from subsidizing the abortion industry.Arizona was the first state in the nation to pass a law opting the state out of abortion coverage on a state health exchange as part of Obamacare.However, because Arizona chose to allow the federal government to run the exchange in this state, this restriction is inoperable.The GAO report reveals that 41 out of 199 plans being offered in Arizona cover elective abortion. With over 91,000 Arizonans receiving taxpayer-funded subsidies, this is deeply troubling and an outrageous affront to all who oppose taxpayer funding of elective abortions.At this time our team continues to work to know exactly what is happening with the Obamacare plans in Arizona. And in spite of the many transparency issues presented with Obamacare and yet another broken promise by President Obama, I assure you that we will continue working to uncover the truth and do all we can to stop our tax dollars from being used to subsidize abortions.