Sen. Josh Hawley, introduced legislation to close loopholes in Obamacare that allow tax dollars to fund abortions. It’s a move pro-life advocates hailed as a critical step to protect unborn children amid a contentious government shutdown Democrats have forced on Washington.
The bill, dubbed the “No More Loopholes Act,” would expressly prohibit any Obamacare health plan from covering abortions, with very narrow exceptions for cases of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is threatened.
The measure is targeting state-level workarounds and separate billing schemes that skirt the Hyde Amendment’s restrictions on federal funding for elective abortions.
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“It’s time to ban abortion and gender transitions for minors on the healthcare exchanges. No more loopholes,” Hawley said in announcing the measure.
The introduction comes as Senate Democrats, led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, have blocked Republican efforts to end a government shutdown now in its second week. Democrats are demanding an extension of temporary COVID-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies as a condition for reopening the government, subsidies that pro-life senators argue enable insurance plans to cover killing babies in abortions without adequate protections.
Sen. Ron Johnson accused Democrats of holding the government “hostage” to advance their agenda.
“One of the Democratic Party’s fundamental reasons [for extending Obamacare subsidies] is that ‘they want to kill babies in the womb,’” Johnson said on the Senate floor.
Fellow Republicans echoed the criticism, framing the Democratic push as an assault on family values and fiscal responsibility.
“It’s disgusting that Democrats are shutting down the government to continue to hide the failures of Obamacare with massive taxpayer-funded subsidy checks to insurance companies that can fund abortions and [transgender] surgeries,” said Sen. Rick Scott. “Republicans cannot allow American taxpayers to foot the bill for Democrats’ liberal wish list that lets this happen.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who has long championed health care reforms, added: “Americans’ tax dollars should never be used to fund the killing of unborn children or dangerous gender transition procedures. We need to end the Schumer Shutdown so we can make health care more affordable, not subsidize Democrats’ radical anti-family, anti-patient agenda.”
The standoff risks extending the shutdown past the Nov. 1 Obamacare open enrollment deadline, potentially causing premiums to spike and marking the longest such closure in U.S. history, surpassing the 21-day record from 1995-96.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., rebuked Democrats for what he called unreasonable demands, including reversing $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
“Democrats like to whine that Republicans aren’t negotiating, but negotiation is what you do when each side has a list of demands and you need to meet in the middle,” Thune said. “Republicans, as I and a lot of other people pointed out, haven’t put forward any demands. Only Democrats have made demands. And by the way, very expensive demands.”
