A coalition of abortion groups sent letters to the two major political parties this week urging them to force taxpayers to pay for abortions.
The pro-abortion group All Above All announced the joint effort this week as Republican and Democrat platform committees begin drafting their parties’ stances on abortion. Altogether, 61 pro-abortion groups signed off on letters to the two major parties.
In their letters, the groups specifically push politicians to overturn the Hyde Amendment, which has protected Americans from funding most all abortions since the late 1970s. Upheld by the Supreme Court, the Hyde Amendment is now a target of abortion advocates who have moved from pro-choice to pro-abortion — forcing Americans not only to accept unlimited abortions before birth but also to pay for them.
The groups wrote in the letter:
When people can plan if and when to have children, it’s good for them and for society as a whole.
Yet, since the passage of the Hyde Amendment in 1976, Congress has withheld insurance coverage for abortion from those enrolled in Medicaid. Over the years, anti-abortion politicians have imposed similar restrictions on anyone who receives their health coverage or care through the federal government.
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With continued and significant restrictions and bans on abortion across the country, it is more imperative than ever that no one is prohibited from making a personal decision about pregnancy just because of where she lives, her immigration status, her insurance coverage, or her ability to pay. It is better that she can make that decision with her family and her faith, without the interference of politicians.
They also urged politicians to support a U.S. House bill that would reverse the Hyde Amendment and force taxpayers to pay for women’s abortions.
The pro-abortion groups couched the pro-abortion legislation in these terms: “Coverage bans represent a deeply entrenched injustice, where issues of economic justice, racism, and gender inequity come together. … [This legislation] will go a long way towards ensuring that all of us have access to the same health coverage and reproductive decisions, even those of us struggling to make ends meet.”
Some of the prominent groups that signed the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NARAL and the National Abortion Federation.
Planned Parenthood, which does not appear on the list, also is pushing for direct taxpayer funding of abortion. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently promised Planned Parenthood that she would work to overturn the Hyde Amendment, if elected.
Taxpayer funding for abortion is extremely unpopular in the United States at large, even among abortion advocates. A new Marist poll shows that more than two-thirds of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, including a majority of Americans who identify as pro-choice.
According to the poll, women are more likely to oppose taxpayer funding of abortion than men, a fact that challenges Clinton’s framing of resistance to abortion expansion as an attack on women.
The new survey shows the percentage of Americans opposing taxpayer funding of abortion (68 percent) has risen significantly since 2009, when 61 percent of Americans opposed public financing of abortions.
