Chris Smith: “I will just remind Members that, in order to gain votes of several pro-life Democrats needed for passage of the…”

“I will just remind Members that, in order to gain votes of several pro-life Democrats needed for passage of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama issued an executive order on March 24, 2010, and it said: The Affordable Care Act maintains current Hyde restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to newly created health insurance exchanges. The problem is, it never happened. There were people who are saying even today that there is no taxpayer funding for abortion. Yes, there is. We finally went to the GAO. We asked them to do a study, an audit. They spent a full year on it and confirmed that the plans that we were subsidizing with taxpayer dollars covered abortion. I remind my colleagues that, under the Hyde amendment, plans that pay for abortion are precluded from receiving government funding. 1,036 Affordable Care Act exchange plans were found to have abortion on demand being paid for by the taxpayers. So if the Hyde amendment had been applied as former President Obama had said it would, there would have been zero coverage for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother. Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).”