Collins Co-sponsors Pro-life Bill to Block Federal Funding of Abortion

January 24, 2017

WASHINGTON—Congressman Doug Collins today voted in favor of H.R. 7, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, when it passed the House by a vote of 238-183. The bill, sponsored by Congressmen Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL), would prevent taxpayer money from funding abortions.

The bill would make permanent the 1976 Hyde Amendment—which currently requires annual renewal on relevant appropriations bills—and apply the amendment to all federal funding streams. Currently, abortion funding bans must be applied individually to government spending legislation, and 1,000 plans under the Affordable Care Act exchanges cover abortion, according to a GAO report.

“The No Tax Payer Funding for Abortion Act is a bipartisan bill that ensures taxpayers aren’t footing the bill for procedures that they find immoral and that kill innocent unborn children and wound their mothers,” said Congressman Doug Collins.

“The Hyde Amendment has saved nearly 100,000 Georgians from infanticide, while Obamacare funnels tax dollars to insurance plans that cover abortions with impunity. This bill shores up important pro-life protections and ensures that Obamacare follows the standards set in the Hyde Amendment while we work to rescue our health care system. It also requires that, during this process, health plans on federal exchanges become transparent about whether they fund abortions because people should be able to choose whether or not their premiums contribute to that practice.

“Today we were faced with a choice, and I chose to vote for life.”

Recent polls also show that more than 60% of all Americans, on both sides of the aisle, believe that the government has no place in funding abortion.