Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

—First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States

There’s a lot of confusion regarding abortion laws in the United States, at both the State and Federal level. The legislative landscape around abortion is constantly changing and how a law is interpreted or enforced changes with every circumstance.

Relevant laws are grouped into two categories. The largest category is an unsettling list revealing how your tax dollars are funding the abortion industry. The second category reveals gross discrimination and blatant hypocrisy in prosecution and criminalization of life-affirming values perpetrated by the most trusted and powerful government agencies.

Funding Abortion

Hyde Amendment

The majority of federal taxes goes to the US Treasury, and every fiscal year, Congress decides how to spend the money. The legislation that specifies how much money each federal agency and program will receive and how those funds can be used is called the annual appropriations acts. While the specific amounts change every year, amendments to how the money can be used requires the same process and Oval Office signatures as any other legislation.

The Hyde Amendment is a conscience-protection law added to the annual appropriations acts on September 30, 1976. Conscience-protection laws are designed to protect individuals and organizations who object to any involvement with certain services based on moral or religious beliefs, such as euthanasia, gender-affirming procedures, and abortion.

The Hyde Amendment forbids tax-funded health care programs like Medicare and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from covering abortions or abortion-related services except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk.

However, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) pushes abortion as a form of health care, thereby allowing Medicare to pay out billions of dollars for abortions and abortion access.

Pro-life opponents justify the funding by arguing that the funds are not paying for actual procedures. For example, in August 2022, a Presidential executive order waived certain provisions of the Hyde Amendment to release taxpayer funds for travel expenses related to interstate abortion vacations.

Section 1303 of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, was signed into law by President Obama in 2010. Section 1303 of the Affordable Care Act addressed the use of federal funds for health insurance, including Medicaid and Medicare.

Section 1303 applies to the use of either federal funds or premiums for health insurance coverage offered through programs such as Medicaid and qualified health plans (QHPs). The law builds on the Hyde Amendment to ensure insurance premiums are not used in a manner that violates members’ morals and religious beliefs.

Federal funds for health care programs such as Medicaid must not be used to pay for abortions beyond the Hyde Amendment exceptions (rape, incest, or life endangerment). QHPs, such as employer-provided or private insurance providers, are neither required nor prohibited from providing coverage for abortions. If a QHP covers abortions beyond those allowed by the Hyde Amendment, it must collect separate payments from enrollees for the portion of the premium attributable to those abortion services. The premiums must then be kept in separate accounts that are used only to pay for elective abortions.

The abuse of Section 1303 lives in an act of intentional negligence. Instead of changing the law, the Biden Administration canceled the enforcement rules of Section 1303. In other words, the law still exists; they just choose not to monitor or enforce it.

The bulk of federal funding for Planned Parenthood comes through the Medicaid program in violation of Obamacare Section 1303. During the 2020–2021 reporting period, Planned Parenthood reported more than $133 million in excess revenue and more than $2.1 billion in net assets. And yet, during this same year, Planned Parenthood received more than $633 million in government funding and more than $579 million in private contributions.

Title X

Title X is part of the Public Health Service Act of 1970. The law applies to the medical community, including clinics that provide family planning and related preventive health services to low-income individuals.

Under Title X, Any medical facility that performs, promotes, or refers for abortions is ineligible to receive grant money from the Federal Treasury. Any Title X facility providing family planning, preventative health, and abortion services must maintain strict physical and financial separation between Title X activity and abortion-related activity. Failure to do so consistently makes the medical provider ineligible for federal grant money.

Under the Biden Administration’s regulation, Title X activity can be conducted alongside abortion services without strict physical and financial separation. The law still says federal money can’t pay for abortions, so the providers receive the grant to fund Title X services. However, not only does this increase overall revenue for the clinic, but grantees are not even required to prove the money was in fact kept separate from abortion-related services.

In practice, this means your tax dollars run through the Treasury before going to Planned Parenthood as a grant under the guise of critical health care services for the underinsured.

But wait, there’s more. On July 2, 2024 the following recommendation was removed from Title X:

HHS should require clinics it funds under Title X (family planning) to provide information to customers about the importance of marriage to family and personal well-being and refer them to available federal, state, and nonprofit marriage resources.

Discrimination Against Life-Affirming Values

Weldon Amendment

The Weldon Amendment is part of the HHS Appropriations Act. Life-affirming organizations, their external partners, and the federal government.

The purpose of the Weldon Amendment is to protect agencies that decline to participate in abortion-related services against discrimination from other agencies, including state and federal governments. Healthcare providers should not be treated differently because those providers choose not to perform or support abortions.

As part of the annual appropriations process, the federal government must not give funds to agencies, programs, or state and local governments that discriminate against pro-life healthcare entities. Any organization or government agency that discriminates against such providers risks losing federal funding.

The Trump administration disallowed $200 million in Medicaid for California because of Weldon Amendment violations, but the Biden Administration restored the funds. Shockingly, a whopping seven states require abortion coverage in private health insurance plans, but HHS continues to fund those states.

Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act is a U.S. federal law enacted in 1994. The FACE Act applies to individuals seeking family planning and reproductive health services, as well as those at places of worship.

The FACE Act was written in response to increasing violence and obstruction at reproductive health clinics and places of worship. The FACE Act prohibits the use or threat of force or physical obstruction intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with individuals seeking reproductive health services or at places of worship. It also prohibits destruction of property. Anyone committing such acts face both federal and civil fines, imprisonment, and injunctions.

Over the last few years, the Department of Justice has expended countless resources prosecuting peaceful protestors and minor offenders advocating pro-life values while ignoring devastating violence from the pro-abortion camp.

Additionally, the FBI has branded pro-life protestors as “domestic terrorists” and harassed them for “misinformation” or “disinformation.”

God’s Law

We live in a land of duplicity and deception. But there is one book of laws we can always trust: God’s law. His intent is always good, His purpose is always to give life everlasting, His Word never changes, and He has already paid for all of our wrongdoings through His Son, Jesus.

As Christians, the Bible commands us to respect our leadership and follow the laws of the land, but above all else, to follow God. At PreBorn! our intent is to walk with God to save babies and save souls.

Our goal includes sharing the gospel with women who know what it’s like to face an unexpected pregnancy. This means we want every would-be or would-have-been mother to know that Jesus loves you no matter what.

We are here to support expectant mothers with ultrasounds, resources, and referrals. We are here to embrace hurting women with God’s love and healing. And we are here to pray with all of you.