President Donald J. Trump has promised to sign a bill passed yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives that will place a permanent ban on all taxpayer funding for abortion and require compliance under the Affordable Care Act until it is repealed and replaced.

According to Rep. Chris Smith, sponsor of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2017” (H.R.7), this bill will make the Hyde Amendment and other current abortion funding prohibitions permanent and government wide. At present, the Hyde Amendment must be renewed annually.

The new law, which passed 238-183, will also ensure that the Affordable Care Act provide “full disclosure, transparency and the prominent display of the extent to which any health insurance plan on the exchange funds abortion.”

This is an important clause because it eliminates the covert tactics used under Obamacare to prevent the insured from discovering if abortion coverage is included in their policy until the time of enrollment. And even then, this notice is but a single sentence hidden in a massive document.

H.R. 7 is identical to bills that passed in 2014 and 2015, both also numbered H.R. 7. Each of these bills faced the threat of a veto from then-President Obama.

However, President Trump issued a Statement of Administrative Policy yesterday which affirmed that if presented with H.R. 7 in its current form, the president will sign it.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)

“Two million people who would have been aborted instead survived because public funds were unavailable to effectuate their violent demise, while their mothers benefited from prenatal health care and support,” Smith said on the floor of the House. “Two million survivors have had the opportunity to live and enjoy the first and most basic of all human rights—the right to life.”

LifeSiteNews is reporting on other pro-life lawmakers who also spoke up in support of the bill, such as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) who blasted those using the “women’s march” as a way to imply they speak for all women, noting that pro-life feminists were excluded from it. She also took the opportunity to remind them that this Friday will see the 44th annual March for Life which has drawn crowds of up to 650,000 with little or no press coverage.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-NC) called H.R.7 a “common-sense measure” and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) said she was “heartsick” to hear her colleagues celebrating the recent anniversary of Roe v. Wade and called them out for labeling abortion “care” instead of “taking life.”

The new bill is receiving high praise from pro-life leaders.

“Today’s vote reflects the reality that Americans are becoming more pro-life as science has increased our understanding of the humanity of unborn children. This bill restores the status quo against government funding or subsidizing abortion, a position supported by 61% of Americans,” said Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

“For over 40 years, the Hyde Amendment and other pro-life provisions have been renewed annually to prevent federal funds from being used to pay for abortions or healthcare plans which include abortion coverage. For over 40 years, Republicans and Democrats have come together to ensure that despite our differences, we should at least be able to agree that the government should not subsidize abortion. Obamacare violates this longstanding consensus.”

Only one thing stands between this bill and the president’s desk – the U.S. Senate – where passage will be more challenging. Because the bill must garner 60 votes, and pro-life Republicans only have 52 seats, eight Democrats must sign on before it can pass. Two similar bills failed to garner enough support to pass in 2013 and 2015.

However, pro-abortion Democratic Senators who are up for re-election in 2018 are facing strong headwinds. As the Washington Post recently summarized: “[Twenty] percent of all Democratic seats up in 2018 are in states Trump won by double digits and 40 percent are in states that the president-elect carried last November.”

These numbers, coupled with the fact that taxpayer funding for abortion is so unpopular among the general population, may convince enough Democrats to sign on.

The fight must continue until the bill is safely delivered to the President’s desk.

As Perkins said: “The Senate must take up this bill to ensure that government no longer spends people’s hard earned money on insurance with elective abortion. We must pray and work to end abortion in America until every child is welcomed into the world and protected under our laws. Ending taxpayer funding of abortion is a good first step on this journey.”

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