One would think the Republicans would have learned their lessons in
2012 when Todd Aiken used his “legitimate rape” comment, when
anti-choice legislation made no exemptions for women who had been raped,
and when their party literally tried to re-define rape in order to
advance even more anti-choice legislation all across America.
However, Republicans are at it again, and this time they’re just
coming right out with it: they want rape victims to report their assault
to none other than a tax collector from the IRS!
The ‘No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,’ also known as HR 7, is
currently being peddled on Capitol Hill as being an astronomical measure
that seeks to impose sweeping restrictions on abortion rights, and
coverage for abortion that could make the procedure less affordable to
low income women.
The bill was re-introduced by Republican Representative Chris Smith
of New Jersey, and of the 164 co-sponsor of the bill, 160 are
Republican.
Currently, federal funds cannot be used for abortion services, except
in cases involving rape, incest, or life endangerment. So what is it
the Republicans are trying to accomplish, other than slap the women of
America in the face, yet again?
Here’s a small list of what HR 7 does:
1. Eliminates medical-expense deductions for abortion care, which
would essentially raise taxes on women who opt to have an abortion,
something that many low-income women couldn’t afford.
2. The IRS would then have to be the ones to verify if the women
obtaining the abortion who claim a medical-expense deduction under the
provisions of either rape, incest or women’s health to ensure they’re
not committing “tax fraud.”
3. Prohibits the inclusion of abortion in any health care service
furnished by a federal or District of Columbia health care facility or
by any physician or other individual employed by the federal government
or the District.
4. Excludes from the definition of “qualified health plan” after December 31, 2013.
5. Excludes from the definitions of “qualified health plan” and
“health insurance coverage,” for purposes of the tax credit provisions.
Let’s again be clear: tax experts, not doctors, would confirm that
the IRS would have to enforce this provision and in return could audit
any “questionable” benefit claims that doesn’t meet HR 7′s provision
requirements.
According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, the bill would also play a key
role in permanently banning abortion coverage for federal employees
even though these workers pay a portion of their insurance premiums with
their own private dollars, and ”recodifying the ban on abortion care
for women in military hospitals overseas, a policy which a majority of
members of the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to repeal last
year.”
Given the amount of sexual assault cases in the military against
women, this bill would basically force female members to carry their
rapists conception if they can’t afford to have an abortion.
Republicans hate the IRS when it audits political organizations that
were applying to be tax-exempt, but want to use it to enforce abortion
restrictions and determinate what a sexual assault looks like or to
determine, medically, what a life-threatening situation would look like.
And this provision would force the victims to prove their case to a
government agency who’s profession isn’t in medicine, but economics.
So the GOP wants a government agency to determine when a woman can
have a procedure that should be a private decision that’s between her
and her doctor? And Republicans say they hate Obamacare because it does
just this? (even though it doesn’t)
The Republicans in Washington seem to have a sick fetish about women,
rape, and abortions. These are old, white men who are making it their
careers to obsessively focus on punishing and breaking down women who
want to obtain a safe and legal abortion. We pay their $174,000 salaries
a year (plus food and pension and travel expenses, all on tax payers
dime) and they spend their “work” time on forcing woman getting an
abortion audit from the IRS to make sure she doesn’t claim the abortion
expenses as medical expense deductions on her taxes.
Congratulations GOP, why don’t you just make Todd Aiken the head of the IRS while you’re at it?
There are plenty of things I don’t want my own tax dollars to go to;
war, fossil fuel subsidies, corporate subsidies, etc. but you don’t see
me strutting around asking women to tell a tax collector how she was
raped and conceived because of it so she doesn’t “cheat” on her taxes.
These same politicians want every child born, which is not a bad
thing, but the second that child takes their first breath, they couldn’t
care less if that child is fed, clothed, healthy or educated. If these
Republicans are seriously going to claim that the GOP is pro-life, then
they should be in favor of a living wage, equal pay for women,
affordable child care, expanding food stamps, Head Start programs,
universal Pre-K, Medicaid and affordable healthcare etc., instead of
trying to take that all away, which has been the staples to their
ideology in the recent years.
Now we can add auditing rape victims to their ideology too!
I want to ask the Republicans a couple questions: are YOU going to be
the ones who ask victims of rape in they are being legitimate (no Todd
Aiken pun intended). Are YOU going to be the ones to call these victims
liars if they don’t meet your criteria of a sexual assault?
HR 7 is hopefully the final nail in the coffin between women and the GOP.
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