A Missouri House budget committee advanced legislation Tuesday to stop the billion-dollar abortion industry from receiving taxpayer funding through the state Medicaid program.
Learfield News reports the state legislature is holding a special session this week to work on a tax that funds the healthcare program. Pro-lifers are urging lawmakers to include a ban on taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses in the legislation.
Lawmakers have just two more days until their deadline, and the state Senate has been reluctant to pass the pro-life measure, according to the AP.
But Missouri Right to Life leaders said the legislation is critical now that President Joe Biden and Democrat leaders are attempting to force Americans to pay for abortions directly through Medicaid.
“What is the price of one human life? Pro-life Missourians are appalled that even one abortion would be paid for with our tax dollars,” the pro-life organization said on its website.
Still, the likelihood of the amendment passing is uncertain. Both the state House and Senate need to approve it by Thursday, and the senators already left the Capitol, the AP reports. The state Senate also rejected a similar amendment to defund Planned Parenthood last week, according to the report.
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Some state Republican leaders said the pro-life restriction could put all of Missouri’s federal Medicaid funding in jeopardy, but Missouri Right to Life said this is not true.
“The legislature does not have to choose between getting Medicaid dollars and preventing our tax dollars from going to abortion providers, they can do both,” the organization responded. “With the serious risk that the Hyde Amendment will be going away in this Medicaid program …, it is imperative to have strong pro-life language to prevent our public tax dollars from paying for abortions.”
Earlier this year, after a long court battle, Texas won the right to defunded Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups from Medicaid in the state.
Despite its claims, Planned Parenthood does not provide much basic health care. Its “core mission” is aborting unborn babies, and it aborted 354,871 last year. Its annual reports show that the few actual health services that it does provide, such as birth control, cancer screenings and sterilizations, have been dropping steadily in recent years, while its abortion numbers continue to increase.
Meanwhile, community health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities by 20 to one and provide comprehensive health care, including dozens of vital services that the abortion chain does not.
Currently, Medicaid does not pay for abortions directly because of the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding measure that prohibits taxpayer funding for most abortions. The amendment is credited with saving more than 2.4 million babies’ lives, and polls consistently show that a strong majority of Americans support it.
However, Democrats who control congress and Biden are pushing to end the amendment and force taxpayers to fund abortions. Biden’s proposed 2022 budget eliminates the Hyde Amendment – for the first time in more than four decades.
ACTION ALERT: Contact Missouri state senators and ask them to approve the measure.
