The Austin City Council recently showed their support for a new degree of government control: forcing Texans to pay for other citizens’ abortions.
Last week, the council passed a resolution that supports forcing abortion coverage to be included in standard health insurance policies. For Texas businesses and governments, this would effectively require them to pay for their employees’ abortions, and for government entities, that abortion cost would ultimately be charged to the taxpayers.
Since pro-life Texans changed the law in 2017, insurance companies operating in the state have been prohibited from including abortion coverage in their general health insurance packages, protecting all Texas taxpayers and business owners from being forced to subsidize the abortions of government and private employees. Those seeking abortion coverage still have the option of purchasing it as a supplemental plan.
But Austin City Council’s resolution calls for that change in state law to be reversed.
The resolution, which follows the city’s 2017 “Abortion is Healthcare” resolution, states that not forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions represents a “nexus of deeply entrenched economic injustice, racism, and gender inequity.” The city council contends abortion must receive greater taxpayer funding.
“It is imperative that funding for comprehensive reproductive healthcare is increased and that abortion is covered as part of comprehensive reproductive health care in all insurance programs to ensure services are accessible for communities who are enrolled in such programs,” reads the resolution.
At the council meeting, Nicole Hudgens, Policy Analyst for Texas Values, testified against the resolution.
“If the current state law is repealed, women like me would be forced to pay for the killing of unborn children,” she said. “Where is the ‘pro-choice’ argument in that? Thankfully, we have state legislators and a Governor that value life and freedom for all Texans.”
