Huizenga: President Obama Lied About ObamaCare Preventing Taxpayer Funded Abortion Services

Press Release

The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report concluding American taxpayers have subsidized abortion services for more than 1,000 insurance plans across the nation. This report directly contradicts promises made by President Obama and pro-life congressional democrats that ObamaCare would respect longstanding bipartisan law by preventing taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortion on demand.

Today, Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02) released the following statement regarding ObamaCare allowing for taxpayer funded abortions:

"President Obama came before Congress and promised the American people that no federal dollars would be used to fund abortions. Today's GAO report proves this promise, and others made in support of ObamaCare, are unequivocally false. Without this "Presidential Promise,' ObamaCare would likely not have passed the House of Representatives and become the law of the land. While the State of Michigan has taken steps to prevent taxpayers from paying for abortions, it has become abundantly clear that the federal government has failed to do so.

"Earlier this year, the House passed the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act which would prevent federal dollars from funding abortion services; however the Senate has refused to act on this common sense legislation. American taxpayers should not be forced to violate their conscience and pay for abortions. The U.S. Senate needs to immediately act to fix this problem, uphold bipartisan agreements, and protect American taxpayers."

Background:

On September 9, 2009, President Obama told a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care: "And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."

On March 24, 2010, President Obama issued an executive order stating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will maintain bipartisan restrictions on the use of federal funds for abortions: "The Act maintains current Hyde Amendment restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to the newly created health insurance exchanges."

From The Associated Press last night: That detail (separately itemizing a charge for coverage of elective abortions) is important because the original compromise that President Barack Obama sealed with anti-abortion Democrats stipulated that no federal funds would be used to pay for elective abortions. Instead, private health plans covering the procedure would collect a separate premium, which would be segregated from federal subsidies for other medical services.

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