WASHINGTON, D.C.- On Wednesday, December 16th,
President Trump’s administration announced that it would be
cutting $200 million of federal Medicaid funding to California over
the state’s requirement for abortions to be covered under health
care plans.
According to a
report from The Hill, the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) has declared that California would lose $200 million
in funding for the upcoming quarter because it does not allow
health care plans regulated by the California Department of Managed
Health Care to decline abortion coverage.
HHS secretary Alex Azar
announced that his department would continue to cut an
additional $200 million per fiscal quarter if “the state does not
come into compliance.”
The Trump administration warned California earlier in the year
that it could lose federal funding over a 2014 regulation mandating
that employers and private insurance plans pay for abortions.
Trump Administration Announces
Funding Cut to California Over Abortion Insurance Requirement
https://t.co/RleoHVvb0Z— President-elect Gravehorse1 (@gravehorse1)
December 17, 2020
HHS has determined that the state was violating a federal
anti-discrimination law, known as the Weldon Amendment, which
protects insurers from being forced to provide abortion coverage.
Azar said that California had violated federal conscience laws and
refused to take corrective action. He said:
“So, we are not taking action to hold them to
account.”
Azar said that the
federal government has attempted to work with California to fix
their policy, but that the state refused to work with them. He also
said that:
“His department has worked like never before to
enforce laws Congress has passed to protect Americans’ religious
freedom and conscience rights.”
The Office of Civil Rights, a division of HHS, initially
investigated California based on complaints filed by a Catholic
order of religious sisters and a non-profit Christian church that
objected to “paying for elective abortion insurance for
themselves and their colleagues.”�
Trump Administration Cuts
California Medicaid Funding Over State’s Abortion Coverage
Mandate
#SmartNews https://t.co/c03pryNiQi— Valerie Hogan (@ValerieHogan)
December 17, 2020
Roger Severino, director of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR)
said in a statement:
“Whatever one thinks of the legality if abortion, no
one should be punished for declining to pay for or assist in the
taking of human life.â€
The office issued a notice of violation earlier in the year, but
California did not adjust its policy. OCR then referred the case to
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to enforce
and adjustment.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) office condemned the funding
cut in a
statement to The Associated Press, calling it an attempt to
“score cheap political points†and vowed to “continue to
stand up for reproductive health and push back against this extreme
presidential overreach.â€
Trump administration to cut
funding to California over abortions
https://t.co/P4vRuTgEnX— Lena🙎ðŸ»â€â™€ï¸ðŸ™‹ðŸ»â€â™€ï¸ðŸŒŽ
(@My_corner_table)
December 17, 2020
Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden could reverse the
funding reductions if and when he and his chosen head of HHS are in
office. Biden has nominated California’s attorney general, Xavier
Becerra, a supporter of abortion rights, to head the HHS.
In 2019, the
Trump administration finalized a rule that prohibits clinics
from referring pregnant women for abortions and imposes other
restrictions, including a requirement for strict financial and
physical separation of family planning facilities from ones that
provide abortions.
As a result, more than 900 out of nearly 4,000 clinics receiving
federal funds left the program, including Planned Parenthood and
its affiliates. Advocates claim that the exodus has disrupted care
for women who receive birth control and routine medical attention
from the clinics.
At the worst time to cut
healthcare funding to any state, the Trump administration cuts $200
million in healthcare funds to California over abortions https://t.co/8B9vUC2He8— Oscar Vazquez (@neuroscar)
December 17, 2020
Biden has promised to rescind the Trump administration’s
family planning rule and also supports allowing federal programs to
pay for abortions. Newsom said:
“Women’s health is public health. It’s wrong that
the Trump administration would threaten Californians’ health just
to score cheap political points and during a global
pandemic.â€
California receives tens of billions of dollars in federal
contributions annually to its Medicaid state insurance
program.
Shameful: Pelosi, House Democrats tried to slide taxpayer funding
surrounding abortion into emergency aid bill
March 15th, 2020
Rahm Emmanuel, former mayor of Chicago and former Obama chief of
staff famously once said:
“Never let a crisis go to waste.â€
Well apparently, straight out of the Emmanuel/Obama playbook,
Democrats reportedly tried to
sneak a provision into the coronavirus relief plan to ensure
federal funding for abortion. Seriously.
On Friday, Senator Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) slammed House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House democrats for trying to ensure
federal funding of abortion as part of the stimulus package.
“Senator Ben Sasse (R.,
Neb.) slammed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Democrats
for reportedly trying to ensure federal funding for abortion as
part of the coronavirus economic stimulus plan.â€https://t.co/LXWYI2h2eq#LifeIsABeautifulChoice— Mrs. A. (@professor_rsa)
March 13, 2020
“While schools are closing and hospitals are gearing
up, Speaker Pelosi is waging unnecessary culture wars.
Speaker Pelosi should be fighting the coronavirus
pandemic, not politicizing emergency funding by fighting against
the bipartisan Hyde Amendment,†Sasse told National Review in a
statement.
“We need to be ramping up our diagnostic testing, not
waging culture wars at the behest of Planned Parenthood. Good
grief.â€
Sasse’s version of events was confirmed by White House
officials.
According to the Daily Caller, officials said that while
negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Pelosi had tried
to lobby for “several†provisions that interfered with a
bipartisan commitment to push the effort through.
In one case, it would have set a mandate for up to $1 billion to
reimburse laboratory claims, which officials with the White House
said would set a precedent of healthcare spending outside of the
protections of the Hyde Amendment.
It was explained by a White House official:
“A new mandatory funding stream that does not have
Hyde protections would be unprecedented. Under the guise of
protecting people, Speaker Pelosi is working to make sure taxpayer
dollars are spent covering abortion—which is not only backwards
but goes against historical norms.â€
They Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision which bars the
use of federal funds to pay for abortion, except in the case of
rape or incest, or if the mother’s life is in grave danger.
Democrats have been trying to emasculate the Hyde Amendment,
with the most recent attempt coming as part of a $190 billion
budget bill passed last July.
At that time, progressives were attempting to “ensure’
abortion coverage for people using federal health programs, however
Pelosi apparently
resisted those efforts at that time.
At the time, Pelosi said:
“It’s the law of the land right now, and I don’t
see that there’s an opportunity to get rid of it with the current
occupant of the White House and this U.S. Senate,†while adding
that she doesn’t support the Hyde Amendment herself.
No kidding, Pelosi? You don’t think the senate and the
president would go along? Genius.
Pelosi’s attempt to politicize the stimulus bill was actually
confirmed by the Democrat’s resident climate genius and part-time
bartender, AOC, who claimed in an interview on Fox News Thursday
night that “right now we are hearing that some of the fights and
some of the gridlock is because people are trying to put pro-life
provisions into this.â€
.@AOC talking
about the response to Coronavirus with @BretBaier
pic.twitter.com/WcXWvI3g62— Benny (@bennyjohnson)
March 12, 2020
That folks is what you call spin. Trying to maintain existing
law to circumvent a torpedo attempt by the Democrats is called
“trying to put pro life provisions†into the legislation. Weak
there, AOC.
A second White House official called the provision a “slush
fund,†while a third asked, “what the Hyde Amendment and
abortion have to do with protecting Americans from
coronavirus?â€
President Trump had indicated he would sign any coronavirus
stimulus bill passed by Congress; however, House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy announced his opposition to Pelosi’s proposal and
demanded a rewrite.
Trump did indicate that he did not support the measure as it
currently stood when spoken to early Thursday.
We owe it to the American
people to get this right, and I am confident that if we come
together as adults, we can act responsibly in the next 48
hours.But a “my way or the highway†approach is not the right way
to handle a serious health epidemic. pic.twitter.com/bDWd0G8ug0— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader)
March 12, 2020
“No, there are things in there that had nothing to do
with what we are talking about. It is not a way for them to get
some of the goodies they have been able to get for the last 25
years,†Trump said, declining to offer specifics.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La) said in a tweet:
“Pelosi wasted the whole week behind closed doors
drafting a partisan bill full of liberal fantasies that have
nothing to do w/Coronavirus. Republicans are ready to work w/Dems
on SERIOUS solutions. Now is not the time for politics. Pelosi
needs to stop the games & work w/us.â€
Pelosi wasted the whole week
behind closed doors drafting a partisan bill full of liberal
fantasies that have nothing to do w/ Coronavirus.Republicans are ready to work w/ Dems on SERIOUS solutions.
Now is not the time for politics. Pelosi needs to stop the games
& work w/ us.— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise)
March 12, 2020
Pelosi criticized McCarthy’s plan, stating “families have
needs,†and that decision was needed “to help families right
now.†Right Pelosi, because abortion on demand funded by
taxpayers through some bogus provision in a stimulus plan helps
families. Good grief.
The two sides continued their back and forth throughout the day
Thursday and part of Friday, finally agreeing to a deal that was
palatable to both sides on Friday. The House voted on the package
Friday night and it was passed in a bipartisan vote.
“We resolved our differences and [for] those we
haven’t we’ll continue the conversation because there will
obviously be other bills,†Pelosi said to reporters on
Thursday.
Democrats have for years been trying to increase access to
abortion. Just as the Israeli’s worshipped the golden calf when
freed from bondage in ancient Egypt, so too do the democrats
worship on the altar of abortion.
In July 2019, Joe Biden, Democratic frontrunner for the November
presidential sweepstakes reversed course on the Hyde Amendment
several times, then admitted his health plan would basically make
Roe v. Wade part of the Constitution and force taxpayers to fund
abortion.
Biden’s camp said that his health plan would build on the
‘progress’ of Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate which offers
“free preventive care including contraception,†by “repealing
the Hyde Amendment because health care is a right that should not
be dependent on one’s zip code or income.â€
In 2016, Democrat loser in the presidential sweepstakes Hillary
Clinton accepted the endorsement of abortion mill Planned
Parenthood and also called for an end to the Hyde Amendment.
Clinton claimed that the provision was “making it harder for
low-income women to exercise their full rights†to abortion.
Meanwhile, pro-life leaders
praised the Trump administration for rejecting Pelosi’s
proposals to include funding of abortion through taxpayer
dollars.
Friday night, the president announced his support for the House
bill to assist Americans affected financially by the spread of the
coronavirus.
I fully support H.R. 6201:
Families First CoronaVirus Response Act, which will be voted on in
the House this evening. This Bill will follow my direction for free
CoronaVirus tests, and paid sick leave for our impacted American
workers. I have directed….— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
March 14, 2020
Trump initially opposed the bill, stating that it had too many
unrelated “goodies†that Democrats were trying to hide inside
the bill.
Of course, Planned Parenthood was all up in a lather because
Republicans caught on to the Democrats’ plan, complaining
that:
“Using this very real public health emergency to
attack abortion coverage shows a despicable lack of concern about
the severity of this crisis. These politicians will do anything to
advance their anti-abortion agenda.â€
Excuse me, what???
However, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of
America noted, “The fact that Planned Parenthood believes
emergency #CoronavirusPandemic funding should be used for taxpayer
funded abortion tells you all you need to know about the Abortion
Goliath.â€
The fact that Planned
Parenthood believes emergency
#CoronavirusPandemic funding should be used for taxpayer funded
abortions tells you all you need to know about the Abortion
Goliath. https://t.co/tf0kS7bmYZ— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins)
March 12, 2020
In addition, the president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony
List, praised President Donald Trump and his administration for
showing “unyielding pro-life resolve by successfully applying the
Hyde Amendment to funds in the coronavirus supplemental
bill.â€
“We thank @realDonaldTrump
for his unwavering
#prolife leadership.†Read @marjoriesba
statement on the Families First
#Coronavirus Response Act which includes
#HydeAmendment protections ⬇ï¸â¬‡ï¸â¬‡ï¸ https://t.co/Y7dzF5Uxql pic.twitter.com/D5edt62yor— Susan B. Anthony List (@SBAList)
March 14, 2020
She added:
“Americans should not have to worry during this time
whether emergency funds are not being used for ‘legitimate health
purposes.’â€
—
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