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From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
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And I'm Melissa Block.
On Capitol Hill today, the Republican-led House passed one of its top priority bills: an effort to ban all federal abortion funding. Backers of the measure say it simply writes into permanent law a ban that has been renewed every year since the 1970s.
But as NPR's Julie Rovner reports, the bill would do a lot more than that.
JULIE ROVNER: House Speaker John Boehner made the bill sound simple.
Representative JOHN BOEHNER (Republican, Ohio; House Speaker): A ban on taxpayer funding of abortion is the will of the American people and ought to be the law of the land.
ROVNER: Indeed, the central idea of the bill is to write into permanent law the so-called Hyde amendment, named for the late Republican Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois. It's been added to every federal spending bill since 1976 as a way to prohibit federal funding of abortion, except in very limited circumstances.
But this bill does something else too. It extends the ban on federal funding for abortion into the tax code.
Here's how the bill's sponsor, New Jersey Republican Chris Smith, explained it.
Representative CHRIS SMITH (Republican, New Jersey): HR3 ends the current IRS policy allowing tax-favored treatment for abortions under itemized deductions.
ROVNER: Which means women could no longer write an abortion off as a medical expense, nor use pretax money put in special health savings accounts to pay for the procedure.
Rep. SMITH: HR3 also ends the use of tax credits to purchase insurance plans that include abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or life of the mother.
ROVNER: Arizona Republican Trent Franks said such changes are needed to ensure that taxpayers are completely protected from having to subsidize the procedure in any way.
Representative TRENT FRANKS (Republican, Arizona): Forcing taxpayers to pay for the indiscriminate killing of helpless little baby Americans is not good government, and it should be ended once and for all.
ROVNER: But Democrats said it's this bill that's not good government. While the title of the bill says its aim is to end federal funding of abortion, the real goal is much broader, said New York's Jerry Nadler.
Representative JERRY NADLER (Democrat, New York): The real purpose and effect of this bill is to eliminate private health care choices for women by imposing significant tax penalties on families and small businesses when they use their own money to pay for health insurance or medical care. This tax penalty is intended to drive insurance companies into dropping abortion services from existing private health care policies that women and families now have and rely upon.
ROVNER: Democrats said that could put some women in serious jeopardy, particularly if they end up needing an abortion for health reasons and it's no longer covered by their insurance.
Louise Slaughter of New York called it, quote, "immoral."
Representative LOUISE SLAUGHTER (Democrat, New York): Under HR3, a woman facing cancer who needs to terminate a pregnancy in order to live might have to go into debt over the $10,000 that legal and necessary procedure could cost.
ROVNER: Democrats also warned Republicans that they were setting a dangerous precedent by using the tax code to discourage behavior some people disapprove of.
Here's how Minority Whip Steny Hoyer put it.
Representative STENY HOYER (Democrat, Maryland; Minority Whip): That's what this legislation says. It's your money, but if you don't spend it the way we want you to spend it, we will not give you the tax credit that every other American can get.
ROVNER: California Democrat Jackie Speier said she could envision how easily something like that could spread.
Representative JACKIE SPEIER (Democrat, California): What's next? Some find it immoral to drink alcohol or gamble. Should we outlaw business deductions for meals that include wine? How about business conventions in Las Vegas?
ROVNER: Republicans, however, like Scott Garrett of New Jersey, say Democrats are overstating the case when they say that taking away a tax subsidy is the same as raising taxes.
Representative SCOTT GARRETT (Republican, New Jersey): Nothing, of course, is done in this legislation to that effect.
ROVNER: Abortion opponents are likely to try to force a vote in the Senate if only to put Democrats up for election in 2012 on the record, although it's not expected to pass there. And President Obama has vowed to veto it. Still, this is just the sort of bill Republicans could try to add to some other must-pass legislation between now and Election Day.
Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington.
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