(a) The Legislature of the State of Alabama finds all of the following:
Terms Used In Alabama Code 26-23C-2
Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
year: means a calendar year; but, whenever the word "year" is used in reference to any appropriations for the payment of money out of the treasury, it shall mean fiscal year. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(1) Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, federal tax dollars, via affordability credits, subsidies provided to individuals between 150-400 percent of the federal poverty level, are routed to exchange participating health insurance plans, including plans that provide coverage for abortions.(2) Federal funding of insurance plans that provide abortions is an unprecedented change in federal abortion funding policy. The Hyde Amendment, as passed each year in the Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations bill, and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, FEHBP, prohibit federal funds from subsidizing health insurance plans that provide abortions. Under this new law, however, exchange participating health insurance plans that provide abortions can receive federal funds.(3) The provision of federal funding for health insurance plans that provide abortion coverage is nothing short of taxpayer funded and government endorsed abortion.(4) However, P.L. 111-148 allows a state to “opt out” of permitting health insurance plans that cover abortions to participate in the exchanges within that state and thereby prohibit taxpayer money from subsidizing plans that cover abortions within that state.(5) The decision not to fund abortions places no governmental obstacle in the path of a woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy.(6) Moreover, it is permissible for a state to engage in unequal subsidization of abortions and other medical services to encourage alternative activity deemed in the public interest.(7) Citizens of the State of Alabama, like other Americans, oppose the use of public funds, both federal and state, to pay for abortions. For example, a January 2010 Quinnipiac poll showed that 7 in 10 Americans were opposed to provisions in federal health care reform that use federal funds to pay for abortions and abortion coverage.(8) The Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for unfettered and taxpayer-funded access to abortion, confirms that, based on Medicaid studies, more women have abortions when it is covered by private or public insurance programs.(b) Based on the findings in subsection (a), it is the purpose of this chapter to affirmatively opt out of allowing qualified health plans that cover abortions to participate in exchanges within the State of Alabama.
