{"id":320295,"date":"2024-10-15T14:52:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T19:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=320295"},"modified":"2024-10-14T16:58:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T21:58:39","slug":"members-congress-warn-federal-agency-violating-abortions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/members-congress-warn-federal-agency-violating-abortions\/","title":{"rendered":"Members of Congress warn agency it’s ‘violating federal law’ by subsidizing abortions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a letter<\/a> to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Members of Congress warned the federal agency that it is in violation of a federal law that prohibits congressional health plans from subsidizing induced abortions considered elective.<\/p>\n

About two dozen Congressional members signed the letter, led by Rep. Chris Smith, Rep. Eric Burlison, and Sen. Mike Lee. According to a press release<\/a> published on Smith’s website, the letter follows reports that the health insurance company Aetna will stop offering health plans on the Affordable Care Act exchange in Washington, D.C., known as DC Health Link, during the upcoming year.<\/p>\n

Aetna is currently the only provider of congressional-eligible health plans that do not cover<\/em> so-called ‘elective’ abortions in compliance with the Smith Amendment.<\/p>\n

Every induced abortion \u2014 the direct and intentional act of killing a preborn baby \u2014 is elective, because, as numerous doctors have stated, deliberately killing a preborn baby is not medically necessary and is not the standard of care<\/a> for any medical condition or pregnancy complication. Even if a pregnancy must end, the baby does not have to be actively killed prior to delivery.<\/p>\n