Tuesday, September 16, 2014

GAO study affirms necessity of Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act

Over the summer of 2013, prolife citizens of Michigan initiated legislation to opt-out Michigan from using our tax dollars and insurance premiums to pay for abortions by collecting more than 300,00 signatures from registered voters.

A new study from the Government Accountability Office reaffirms the necessity of their actions and Michigan's law by finding the vast majority of insurance plans in their study aren't separating the cost of abortion insurance from the rest of the insurance as President Obama promised in an executive order.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report released late Monday that only 1 of 18 insurers it reviewed was separately itemizing a charge for coverage of elective abortions on enrollees' bills.

That detail 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.

This study proves that insurance companies which include the standard coverage of abortion aren't separating the costs of covering abortion from the rest of the insurance premium just as prolife people had feared.  

The study also proves a number of opponents of the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act were clearly wrong to attack the motives and sincerity of prolifers. 

Speaking in opposition to the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act on December 11, 2013, State Senator Gretchen Whitmer claimed prolife concerns about Obamacare paying abortions were false.
"They told the public this was about preventing Obamacare from paying for abortions. Bull." 
On the same day, State Senator Bert Johnson claimed, 
"The Affordable Care Act includes a mechanism to ensure that public funds are not used to perform elective abortions and includes language reinforcing the Hyde Amendment."
State Representative Kate Segal also claimed prolifers were lying about concerns of tax dollars being used to subsidize abortions in her testimony. 
I am ashamed that the supporters of this proposal can’t be bothered with facts – repeating the bold-faced lie that their tax dollars are somehow being used for abortions, despite the fact that the federal Hyde Amendment has banned tax dollars from being spent on elective abortions since 1977 and that Michigan law already does so, as well.
State Senator Whitmer, State Senator Johnson and State Representative Segal owe apologies to prolife people of Michigan for attacking them and their motives when they clearly were uninformed about Obamacare, the Hyde Amendment and whether tax dollars would be used to subsidize abortions.

Abortion ends the life of a human being preparing to be born.  This fact is the reason why prolife people do not want their tax dollars and insurance premiums used for abortions.  When will President Obama keep the promise he made in his executive order?