Today Family Research Council released the fourth in a series of interactive pro-life maps, tracking state funding of the abortion industry through three principal funding streams: Medicaid, Title X family planning funds, and state appropriations.
Twenty-three states have defunded (or attempted to defund) abortions with taxpayer dollars. (Some efforts have been stalled or stopped by the courts.)
- Texas is the only state to have defunded (or attempted to defund) abortions and abortion providers in Medicaid, Title X and state appropriations, and to have been granted a Section 1115 waiver from the Trump Administration to divert federal Medicaid funds away from abortion providers.
- Six additional states have good laws that defund abortion providers in the three principle funding streams: Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
- Sixteen states have only partial defunding laws (not addressing all three principle funding streams) and/or temporary defunding policies (executive orders, state budgets, etc.): Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin.
- Another 14 states have not taken any action to defund abortion providers: Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming. (States that merely enacted a “state Hyde Amendment,” duplicating federal protections in Medicaid, are not credited on this map with having taken a significant step in defunding abortion providers.)
- Thirteen states have taken steps to directly fund abortions and abortion providers with taxpayer dollars: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.
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As early as 1976, Congressman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) lead the effort to ban federal funding for abortions in Medicaid, one of the largest government health care programs. Despite the federal Hyde Amendment and ongoing congressional and state efforts to restrict taxpayer dollars from flowing to the abortion industry, the abortion industry receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars every year.
Quena González, Director of State and Local Affairs at Family Research Council, said: “For too long, Planned Parenthood–America’s largest abortion company–has taken millions of dollars every year in taxpayer money. Most of that money flows through the states, giving governors and state legislators tremendous opportunities to defund the abortion industry. FRC’s map highlights state actions to restrict or stop that flow. Since 1976 the federal Hyde Amendment has recognized the principle that taxpayers should not underwrite abortions or the abortion industry. It’s time for Congress and the states to finish Congressman Hyde’s work. This map shows voters where states have or have not acted to turn off the main funding streams the abortion industry uses to siphon off taxpayer dollars.”
Connor Semelsberger, Legislative Assistant for Pro-life Issues at Family Research Council, remarked: “With renewed efforts to repeal the federal Hyde Amendment which bans federal funding for elective abortions, and the push in some states to use Medicaid funds to pay for abortions, it is vitally important to pass laws protecting taxpayers from subsidizing abortion. Now more than ever states must do what they can to separate taxpayer funds from the abortion industry. Abortion is not healthcare and should not be funded as such.”
To see if your state provides funding for abortions visit http://frc.org/prolifemaps.
