States Offer Federally Funded Abortions Under Obamacare

Although it’s illegal to fund abortions with federal dollars two states will pay for the life-ending procedure with federal funds under President Obama’s new healthcare reform law.

This week Maryland health officials announced that the state will be the second so far to use federal tax dollars to provide abortions under the commander-in-chief’s health care overhaul, according to the conservative news publication that exposed a similar plan in Pennsylvania a few days ago.

Both states will use their existing high-risk insurance pools—which cover abortion—to administer the newly created federal high-risk plan mandated by the Democrat reform measure. Under the law each of the nation’s 50 states must offer people with pre-existing conditions health insurance until federally subsidized exchanges are fully established in 2014.

States like Pennsylvania and Maryland that already have local programs will get tens of millions of dollars from the federal government to offer the new perk. Pennsylvania will receive $160 million for its high-risk insurance pool and Maryland will get $85 million. Both plans will continue to cover abortion, even though Obama has repeatedly promised that no federal dollars will be used to fund the procedures.

In fact, in a last-minute deal to pass the contentious healthcare bill, the president signed an executive order affirming that the new law would not fund abortions. The order was guaranteed to ensure enforcement and implementation of abortion restrictions under the new law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Since 1996 the U.S. government has banned (Hyde Amendment) the use of federal dollars to pay for abortions, though some states use local resources to fund the procedure. The federal ban applies to government health programs for the disabled and elderly (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid). A separate provision, known as the Smith Amendment, prohibits federal funding of abortion under the federal employees’ health benefits plan.