The federal government shutdown has put Obamacare back in focus, which means we have the chance to educate the public all over again about how Obamacare subsidies make taxpayers fund abortion on demand – often without their knowledge.
It’s been over 10 years since “pro-life” House Democrats betrayed constituents in voting for Obamacare, the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion since Roe v. Wade. That’s probably enough time to need a reminder that 15 of them lost their seats in Congress because of it. (One of them was so mad about his “loss of livelihood” resulting from exposure of the truth about his vote, he even took us to the Supreme Court – where he also lost.)
On social media, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida called out Democrats for shutting down the government over extending Obamacare subsidies that fund abortion, among other priorities of the Left. PolitiFact, the self-appointed arbiters-of-fact Americans truly don’t deserve, took issue. But Sen. Scott is right, and they are wrong.
We have long memories, and we keep receipts.
The Hyde Amendment has protected unborn children and taxpayers for nearly 50 years. It’s not a permanent law, but rather, language that is traditionally added to annual Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) appropriations bills (a “rider”). More than 2.6 million Americans are alive today thanks to the Hyde Amendment – learn more at sbaprolife.org/hyde.
Obamacare was a significant break with this principle, specifically written not to include real Hyde protections. It was intentionally funded outside of the LHHS bill so that Hyde would not automatically apply. That’s been a problem as long as the law has existed.
Instead, President Obama promised a dubious executive order in return for the votes of the “pro-life” House Democrat holdouts, led by then-Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan. But executive orders don’t trump laws, and Hyde protections were not codified in Obamacare.
What Obamacare contains is an accounting gimmick that ostensibly requires insurers to collect a separate surcharge for abortion coverage (those who are interested in all the wonky details, read our letter to Congress on behalf of ~90 national and state pro-life groups).
Pro-life advocates knew it was a fig leaf. The Obama Democrats knew. The Stupak crew knew – but all except one of them caved. The one wrench in the machinery was Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois, who saw through the gimmick and stood resolute to the end. As thanks for his principled stand, party leaders abandoned Lipinski, while pro-abortion groups spent millions backing a left-wing primary opponent who finally ousted him in 2020 only to lose after redistricting in the very next cycle.
After passage of the law, the Obama administration allowed insurers to collect the “separate” payments…wait for it…together. We promise, we couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried.
In response, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey introduced the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act in an effort to fight the absence of transparency about the hidden surcharge.
The facts PolitiFact concedes are usually more revealing than anything they criticize. Money is fungible? Check. Taxpayers “indirectly” pay for abortions? Check.
They also note, “In 2014, the first year of the federal health care marketplace, a Government Accountability Office report found mixed compliance for the process to separate the funding…”
That is an understatement. In 2014 the GAO confirmed over one thousand taxpayer-funded Obamacare plans covered abortion on demand.
They continue, “Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade…HHS reiterated that ACA coverage of [abortion] is subject to state law.” Indeed. And in 2022, despite the Dobbs victory, almost 60% of Obamacare plans in 24 states plus D.C. covered elective abortion – 1,553 plans in total.
In 8 states and D.C., this included one hundred percent of exchange plans.
At least a dozen states, in fact, mandate abortion coverage. Besides citing the GAO and themselves, PolitiFact’s sources include KFF – which confirms Obamacare forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions in pro-abortion states. At least nine prohibit cost-sharing.
One of their most curious claims is that the state of Maryland is sitting on a $25 million pile of unused money collected from the abortion surcharge. A closer examination reveals that, instead of perhaps refunding that money, Democrat Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill to hand it out in the form of grants to abortion businesses—grants that have nothing to do with Obamacare recipients, and are just cash to the abortion industry. One notable beneficiary of this abortion slush fund is an “all-trimester” abortion facility that opened a few months after Dobbs and advertises abortions up to 34 weeks of pregnancy – a point when babies in the womb exhibit clear preferences by their facial expressions for the taste of different foods mom eats.
One wonders how many taxpayer-funded late-term abortions are too many for PolitiFact. We agree with the strong majority of Americans: the only acceptable number of taxpayer-funded abortions is zero. In Michigan, where Democrats led by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have ordered all insurers – even private ones – to pay for abortions, the price tag to abort a single unborn child with a disability reportedly came to $36,000 (for reference, roughly comparable to 3-4 years of average private school tuition).
On abortion, PolitiFact is wrong far more often than the rare occasions when it gets something right. Democrats should stop playing games and reopen the government – and next time, the fact-checkers should take a seat and defer to real experts.
A final word from our senior policy advisor Autumn Christensen that underscores how seriously we take this issue, for both Democrats and Republicans:
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