On September 11, 2014, the Susan B. Anthony List finally prevailed in their four-year legal battle with former Ohio congressman, Steve Driehaus. The saga began when the Susan B. Anthony List erected billboards claiming that Driehaus’ support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was support for taxpayer-funded abortion. Driehaus claimed this was false and sued for defamation, using the Ohio political false-statements law to quash the Susan B. Anthony List allegations. After a prolonged judicial saga that included arguments before the Supreme Court followed by additional pleadings in lower federal courts the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio ruled that the Ohio political false-statements law was unconstitutional because it infringed upon the free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Susan B. Anthony List was finally free to make its case that support for the Affordable Care Act also supported taxpayer-funded abortions.
Mere days after this legal victory, the Susan B. Anthony List was further vindicated when a General Acounting Office (GAO) report on the abortion coverage by taxpayer subsidized health care plans in the ACA health insurance exchanges revealed that the vast majority of insurers were not in compliance with the ACA requirements that they segregate taxpayer funds from those that are used to pay for abortion. SBA List had been right all along. The Affordable Care Act enables abortions to be funded with taxpayer money.
The ACA originally passed because self-identified pro-life Democrats like Steve Driehaus of Ohio and Bart Stupak of Michigan claimed there were safeguards to prevent government subsidies from being used for abortion coverage. The law states that every health care exchange must offer at least one plan that does not cover abortion. If a plan does cover abortion, it must bill separately for this coverage and only use money collected in this additional billing for abortion coverage. In addition, consumers were to be explicitly informed as to whether or not a plan covered abortion.
The recent GAO report reveals that these safeguards are almost universally ignored. There are five states that only offer insurance plans that cover abortion. They looked at the Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) in the 28 states that have no state restrictions on abortion coverage. Only one insurer itemized the additional premium for abortion coverage on insurance bills but this insurer labeled it as a charge “for coverage of services for which member subsidies may not be used”. In other words, in spite of the requirements of the ACA to keep premiums for abortion coverage separate from general taxpayer subsidized premiums, all but one insurer lumped them together.
The ACA requires that consumers be notified at the time of enrollment if a plan covers abortion, but does not specify how this is to be done. Most of the QHPs do not explicitly state they cover abortion. If they do include it in their plan description, it is listed under “Family Planning Services” using euphemisms like “voluntary termination of pregnancy”. Most of the issuers of QHPs do not make this information readily available to the public. Consumers must call the insurer directly to find out about abortion coverage. Four issuers of QHPs indicated they were unaware they had a responsibility to inform consumers about abortion coverage.
When the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was made aware of these violations of the ACA they claimed that their job was to provide guidance to the states but that monitoring of the compliance with ACA statutes was the job of the state insurance commissioners. The HHS did acknowledge that in light of the GAO report, “additional clarifications may be needed.” May be needed? The provisions against abortion funding that were written in to the law in order to get the ACA passed are being flagrantly violated. There should be a sense of urgency to get the implementation of these provisions right.
The GAO report makes clear that the alleged protections against taxpayer funding of abortion in the ACA were nothing more than window dressing. They were a shallow attempt to offer political cover to Democrats who supported the ACA but wanted to keep their pro-life credentials intact. It was a failed political strategy since most of these so-called pro-life Democrats lost their bids for re-election after their support of the ACA. But that is of little consolation since we are still saddled with the consequences of their votes.
The regulations against the use of taxpayer funds to cover abortion must be unambiguously written and stringently enforced. If the current administration and the current Congress cannot do this, then this November we need to elect a Congress who can. Smoke-and-mirrors accounting gimmicks are insufficient to protect the sanctity of human life.
Dr. Denise Jackson Hunnell is a Fellow of Human Life International. She graduated from Rice University with a BA in biochemistry and psychology. She earned her medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She went on to complete a residency in family medicine at Marquette General Hospital, Marquette, Michigan.
Upon completion of her training, Dr. Hunnell served as a family physician in the United States Air Force. She was honorably discharged. She continued to practice medicine all over the country as her husband’s Air Force career kept them on the move. In order to better care for her family, Dr. Hunnell retired from active clinical practice and focused her professional efforts on writing and teaching. She has contributed work to local and national Catholic publications as well as to secular newspapers including the Washington Post and the Washington Times. She also teaches anatomy and physiology at Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus. Dr. Hunnell serves as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Other affiliations include the American Academy of Family Physicians, The Catholic Medical Association, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center. She received her certification in health care ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2009.
Dr. Hunnell has been married for nearly thirty years to Colonel (ret) John F. Hunnell, an Air Force test pilot. They have four children and are blessed with three grandchildren so far.
