With a vote of 238 to 183, the house passed HR-7 (formerly known as the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2017”) on Tuesday, bringing some seriously scary legislation closer to the desk of our decidedly anti-woman Commander in Chief.

HR-7 has us scared because it is a direct assault on low-income women and their ability to access abortions. It’s like the Hyde Amendment (which we broke down in a video at the end of last year) — only bigger and way more permanent.

While the Hyde Amendment is a budget rider that has to be renewed each year, HR-7 would make the banning of federal funds for abortion coverage permanent — meaning it’d be a lot harder to repeal if the bill gets passed.

As our friends at NARAL outlined, HR-7’s consequences would be catastrophic for women (particularly low-income women and women of color) in ways that Henry Hyde could only have wet dreams about:

  • It bans coverage of abortion services for women insured by multi-state health plans under the ACA.
  • It would revive the Stupak-Pitts amendment which would “effectively ban abortion coverage” in the new health system.
  • It imposes tax penalties on small businesses that choose private health plans that cover abortion care.
  • Blocks coverage for low-income women, federal employees and D.C. residents by codifying even more anti-choice riders.
  • Requires health plans to give biased information — which they call “disclosures” — about abortion coverage and make these insurance plans mislead consumers about abortion coverage.
  • Under the bill abortions can’t be performed at any federally owned building or by a federal employee. The only exceptions to the restriction are in cases of rape, incest and if the woman’s life is at risk.
  • Abortion coverage can “not be purchased using matching funds required for a federally subsidized program, including a state's or locality's contribution of Medicaid matching funds.”

If this all seems scary and terrible to you, your instincts are correct. To make matters worse, 3 (THREE) Democrats in the House voted to pass this bill. Conveniently here’s their contact information:

Cuellar, Henry    TX 28th 

Twitter: @RepCuellar  Phone: 202-225-1640 (Other offices)

Lipinski, Daniel    IL 3rd     
Twitter: @RepLipinski Phone: (202) 225 – 5701 (Other Offices)

Peterson, Collin  MN 7th  

Twitter: @CollinPeterson Phone: (202) 225-2165 (other offices)

If these goons are from your district, please feel free to let them know how underwhelmed you are with their performance.

In the meantime and before it’s too late, look at the Senate vote and make sure your senators know how important it is to protect reproductive rights.

Want to know more about HR-7?Let one of LPJL’s feline friends give you more info about the trash fire legislation here.