Bay State Taxpayers Spending More Than $2 Million Per Year On Abortion

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2021/09/08/bay-state-taxpayers-spending-more-than-2-million-per-year-on-abortion/

How much do Bay State taxpayers have to pay for other people’s abortions?

More than $2 million per year over the last four years, according to data provided to NewBostonPost last week by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services.

The data provided to NewBostonPost showed that MassHeath — which includes Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program — paid $1.35 million for abortions services in 2015, $1.32 million in 2016, $2.1 million in 2017, $2.07 million in 2018, $2.19 million in 2019, and $2.04 million in 2020.

A spokesman for the state agency claimed that the state does not keep track of the number of taxpayer-funded abortions that it pays for each year, when asked by NewBostonPost.

Massachusetts is one of just 16 states in the country where the state’s Medicaid program pays for elective abortions. That’s the case despite the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federal funding for paying for elective abortion. 

Massachusetts is on that list because of the state’s highest court.

A 1981 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling (Moe v. Secretary of Administration and Finance) is the reason. The court decision came four years after the Doyle-Flynn amendment prohibited the Massachusetts state government from paying for abortions.

In 2015, 2017, and 2019, the Massachusetts Alliance to Stop Public Funding of Abortion tried to flip the Supreme Judicial Court’s interpretation of the state constitution by collecting signatures to get a question on the statewide general election ballot. However, those signature gathering efforts came up short.

Thomas Harvey, chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance to Stop Public Funding of Abortion, says that ending the public funding of abortion is a key step toward building a culture that values human life in the Commonwealth.

“Abortion is the murder of the smallest and most helpless members of the human family. And yet here in Massachusetts, we taxpayers are forced to pay for it,” Harvey told NewBostonPost in July. “Eliminating that requirement should be one of the first steps in restoring a culture of life in this state.”

Patricia Stewart, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, thinks the money would be put to better use if it went to the state’s safe haven program. Here is what she told NewBostonPost of taxpayer-funded abortion in late July:

 

Massachusetts law exempts certain medical professionals and those applying to study in health-care fields from participating in abortion services if doing so violates their religious or moral convictions. There is no such accommodation for taxpayers, whose tax dollars pay for MassHealth-financed abortions. To remedy this inequity, Massachusetts Citizens for Life filed bill H.3005 to give taxpayers the option of redirecting their tax dollars from abortion funding to supporting the Baby Safe Haven Program. This will not reduce the amount of taxes collected; it merely grants taxpayers, who oppose abortion, the same conscience protection enjoyed by other Massachusetts citizens.

 

Nationally, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) supports taxpayer-funded abortion. She wants the United States to repeal the Hyde Amendment which bans the federal government from paying for elective abortion.

Clark said that the coronavirus pandemic exemplified why she supports taxpayer-funded abortion in a December 2020 press release.

“This global pandemic has put a spotlight on policies rooted in inequity, and the Hyde Amendment is no exception,” she said. “1 in 3 jobs held by women have been designated as essential, and women are the sole or co-breadwinner in two-thirds of families with children. Yet, Hyde prevents women in poverty and many women of color from having autonomy over their bodies and stability in their lives. Our path to rebuilding a stronger, more inclusive America must include repealing this dangerous and discriminatory policy.”

A press spokesman for NARAL and Planned Parenthood could not be reached for comment on Sunday or Monday this week.

 

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