Americans United for Life Action calls the healthcare law “a Trojan Horse of anti-life policies that must be removed from the healthcare system to protect those who are most vulnerable”
WASHINGTON, D.C (7/11/12) – Americans United for Life Action President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest called on Members of Congress to repeal the healthcare law, to once and for all wholly rid the country of a law intertwoven with coercive and anti-life policies.
She continued: “Obamacare is the largest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade—it contains a Trojan horse of anti-life policies that must be completely removed to protect the many people who will be harmed by the law’s anti-life provisions, including the covert abortion premium mandate and the life-ending drugs and devices mandate. Of equal concern is the law’s failure to provide comprehensive conscience protections for individuals, employers, and insurance companies allowing attacks on Americans who have religious, ethical, or moral objections to abortion.
“Americans United for Life Action now calls on Congress to repeal the healthcare law to protect Americans from the anti-life policies woven into its framework.” Click here to read the letter from AULA on the scored vote.
From the very beginning of the healthcare debate, AUL and AULA have been calling for life-affirming policies in any healthcare proposals. In HHS v. Florida, AUL filed an amicus curiae brief with the Supreme Court, along with lead counsel the Bioethics Defense Fund and other pro-life organizations, challenging the “covert abortion premium mandate” provision in the healthcare law.
AUL argued that the law violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by effectively forcing millions of individuals to personally pay a separate premium to fund abortion in violation of their sincerely held religious, ethical, or moral beliefs. This is clearly illustrated in AUL’s chart of the ‘Covert Abortion Premium Mandate’ that conscripts healthcare managers as secret agents of the abortion industry who are almost entirely forbidden to tell people that they are paying for abortion coverage. (click here to read more.)
AUL has also offered life-affirming solutions to the anti-life provisions in the healthcare law—detailing the actions necessary to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion or insurance coverage for abortion and to protect First Amendment freedom of conscience.
Following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, AUL released model “opt-out” legislation to assist states in safeguarding against abortion coverage being included in their state insurance exchanges. To date, AUL has assisted eight states in enacting opt-outs.
Abortion is woven into the healthcare law at multiple levels, making repeal of the law a pro-life necessity, including:
- Failing to prohibit the use of federal tax dollars for abortion, abortion coverage, and abortion-inducing drugs and devices.
- Permitting federally-subsidized insurance plans to provide insurance coverage for abortion through the state insurance Exchanges required in all 50 states.
- Failing to prohibit all multi-state qualified health plans from providing coverage for abortion.
- Including a “preventive care” mandate that is used to force coverage of drugs and devices known to end life.
- Failing to provide comprehensive First Amendment conscience protections for individuals, employers, and insurance companies that have religious or moral objections to abortion.
“Not only do the smallest number of Americans today identify themselves as ‘pro-choice,’ voters choose life by a margin of 2 to 1. The current debate over the anti-life healthcare law should embrace the majority view that 7 in 10 Americans do not want their tax dollars funding or otherwise subsidizing abortion. When given a choice, most Americans choose life and choose to distance themselves from the abortion lobby.
AUL has also created Life-Affirming Healthcare Guidelines for legislators as well as a unique project to protect the First Amendment Conscience Rights of all Americans. For more information click here.
