WASHINGTON, DC- Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures delivered the following statement today at a Subcommittee hearing on H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act:
“Last week was the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, a celebration rooted in the struggle for women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. The President and many other world leaders chose this time to laud the accomplishments of women and express renewed commitments to ending violence and discrimination against women.
“One way in which we could honor that struggle is by improving women’s health, not limiting it.
“But last night, I found out that we will also be debating a bill today which may allow hospitals to deny emergency, life-saving care to pregnant women, a bill not even referred to this Committee.
“It is expected that this Committee will take up H.R. 3 and H.R. 358 as introduced in a matter of weeks. H.R. 3 seeks to extend current restrictions on abortions in federal facilities to private health plans. But it doesn’t stop there.
“It seeks to redefine rape, excluding protections for any rape short of forcible rape, a distinction surely lost on most victims. It seeks to redefine incest, excluding protections for any incest not involving a minor.
“And the bill, even as modified by the Judiciary Committee, would exclude protections for women whose life is medically endangered, but not by the pregnancy itself, such as a woman suffering from brain cancer in need of chemotherapy.
“The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a profession dedicated solely to women’s health, expressed opposition to legislative proposals that ‘put government between a physician and a patient.’ Remember how incensed we were a decade ago that medical decisions could be made by HMO ‘bean counters’? And yet here, we will let government bean counters do it.
“And because this bill has not been drafted as amendments to the Internal Revenue Code, it is hard to capture its full reach. Can a company deduct expenses for research on a better birth-control pill where abortion might be possible as part of the clinical trial? There are at least a dozen tax provisions potentially impacted by this imprecise language.
“And I have to wonder: what’s next for our committee? Do Members in opposition to the death penalty deny deductions for research expenses on any drug which might be used in conjunction with that? Do Members in opposition to tobacco use deny advertising deductions to tobacco companies? The tax code can be an extremely powerful tool to accomplish a policy goal, including social policy, but it is also an extremely blunt instrument.
“Mr. Chairman, both you and Chairman Camp has talked with sincerity about simplifying our tax code for the benefit of individuals, businesses, and tax administrators. I want to be a part of that effort. But, this bill doesn’t get us there. And it makes the road a lot bumpier.
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman."
