Heritage Foundation on Abortion

	Heritage Foundation on Abortion

Fetal rights apply in born-alive abortions

HB 227: Requires every physician who attempts to terminate a pregnancy to exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of a human infant who has been born alive [compared with] any other child born alive at the same gestational age.

Heritage Foundation rationale to vote YES:Current federal policy insufficiently protects babies who are born alive following an attempted abortion. While current law recognizes that all infants born alive are "persons," babies who survive an abortion attempt are left vulnerable because the law provides for no requirements that health care practitioners treat the infant with the same degree of care afforded to any other newborn. HB 227 would remedy this problem by requiring that proper medical care be given to infants who survive an abortion and establishing criminal consequences for practitioners who fail to do so.

Legislative Outcome:Died in committee 02/11/20

Source: Heritage Foundation on Virginia voting record HB 227 , Feb 21, 2019

No taxpayer funding if health services include abortion

Planned Parenthood claims that its 665 clinics provide a "wide range" of health care as justification for taxpayer funding, and that abortion is a small proportion of their services. Yet, data show that Planned Parenthood is the country's largest abortion provider, with affiliates performing more than 300,000 abortions per year, or approximately one out of every three in the country.

The organization's affiliates received approximately $60 million of taxpayer money under Title X, and $390 million through Medicaid. To ensure that taxpayers are not forced to subsidize America's number one abortion provider, Congress should make Planned Parenthood affiliates ineligible to receive either Medicaid reimbursements or Title X grants if they continue to perform abortions. Money from these programs should instead be redirected to the more than 9,000 federally qualified health center sites that provide comprehensive primary health care for those in need without entanglement in abortion.

Source: Heritage Action voting recommendation on Planned Parenthood , Mar 1, 2017

No federal funding of abortion via ObamaCare health plans

The House voted on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act (HR7). The bill, sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), would establish a permanent, government-wide prohibition on federal taxpayer funding of abortion and health benefits plans that include coverage of abortion, as well as prevent federal tax dollars from being entangled in abortion coverage under ObamaCare.

Heritage Action recommends voting YES on the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act as a good pro-life, pro-taxpayer bill. Regarding HR7, The Heritage Foundation notes Congress failed to apply longstanding protections against federal funding of abortion or abortion coverage to the totality of ObamaCare, potentially allowing large taxpayer subsidies to flow to health plans that cover elective abortion. They explain, "taxpayers will now foot the bill for federal subsidies for the purchase of health plans on the exchanges, and some of those plans could cover elective abortion."

Source: Heritage Action 2015-16 voting recommendation on HR7 , Jan 22, 2015

Conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals

The rights of Americans to believe and act according to deeply held beliefs are increasingly coming under assault. For example, many provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act weaken family choice of coverage, undermine parental participation in minor children's health care decisions, penalize the decision to marry, and undercut family values in health care. Additionally, its loose conscience protections, combined with inadequate guidance on conscience rights, may leave pro-life medical professionals with only limited protection to practice according to their religious principles. The ability to work, live, and provide services compatible with one's beliefs is essential for maintaining a just and free society. Policymakers should enact permanent and comprehensive conscience protections and replace the current patchwork of federal statutes and annual abortion riders on spending bills with a permanent, government-wide policy. Source: 2012 campaign website CandidateBriefing.com , Nov 1, 2012

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Page last updated: Apr 30, 2021