On the recordJanuary 28, 2014
I thank you for yielding to me. Madam Speaker, existing law very clearly states no taxpayers' money can fund abortions--that is already the law--with the exception of rape, incest, or to save a woman's life. The Republicans are coming in and saying we have got to make sure that no taxpayer's money is going to be used to pay for any insurance that might provide abortions. The law--the Affordable Care Act--provides that, if you get an insurance policy on the exchange, you can choose a policy that does not provide abortion coverage, but if you choose a policy that has abortion coverage, that portion of the policy must be paid by the purchaser, not the government. So this is, in fact, like all we do around here, which is propaganda. It is politics. The Republicans try to make people believe that taxpayers' dollars are being used to pay for abortions. It is not true. This bill is bad in substance. It is an unfortunate bill that tries to interfere with the ability of people to buy with their own money a policy that may cover abortion services, which is a legal medical service.
