The Trump administration said Wednesday it was cutting $200 million in federal healthcare funding to California because the state requires insurance providers to cover abortions.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it will withhold the funding from Medicaid in the new fiscal quarter starting in January and “if the state does not come into compliance” the department will cut an additional $200 million per fiscal quarter.
The administration warned California earlier this year that it could lose federal funding over a 2014 regulation mandating that employers and private insurance plans pay for abortions.
The Department of Health and Human Services determined that the state was violating a federal anti-discrimination law, known as the Weldon Amendment, that protects insurers from being forced to provide abortion coverage, the department said in a statement.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in the statement that California had violated federal conscience laws and refused to take corrective action. “So we are now taking action to hold them to account,” he said.
The Office of Civil Rights, a division of the Health and Human Services department, initially investigated California based on complaints filed by a Catholic order of religious sisters and a nonprofit Christian church that objected to “paying for elective abortion insurance for themselves and their colleagues,” the statement said.
“Whatever one thinks of the legality of abortion, no one should be punished for declining to pay for or assist in the taking of human life,” Roger Severino, director of the Office of Civil Rights, said in the statement.
The incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden could reverse the decision. Biden has nominated California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, a supporter of abortion rights, to head the Health and Human Services agency.
The office of Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the move as an attempt “to score cheap political points,” saying in an emailed comment Wednesday it “will continue to stand up for reproductive health and push back against this extreme presidential overreach.”
The above comes from a Dec. 17 story on ABC News.
Thanks be to God!
Although our “Catholic” brother, Joe Biden, will reverse this in a month and begin another onslaught on babies and mothers, at least Mr. Trump and those in his administration continue to work for life while still in office.
Pray for Mr. Biden, Mr. Newsom and other Catholics who have betrayed the innocent unborn and their faith.
First of all Joe Biden has not been sworn in and will never be sworn in. The nerve of you to call him a Catholic because most Catholics that I know are prolife. No person that love God will kill little human beings that bear His image.
Biden will take the oath of office and be the president on January 20. Face reality. I warn everyone not to make Trumpianity your religion.
Nativida, I call Mr. Biden a Catholic, though a bad one, because his bishop, Cardinal Archbishop Wilton Gregory, says that he is a Catholic and should be able to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord in Holy Communion (before repenting for his support of abortion and other immoral activities).
While I disagree, it is not my place (as a deacon across the country) to make that call. It seems that is an issue that you may want to take up with His Eminence. Here is his contact information:
https://adw.org/about-us/resources/contact-us/
Canon Law has made the call: clerics are forbidden to give Holy Communion to Joe Biden because he is obstinately persisting in manifest grave sin. Canon 915. Didn’t you take Canon Law classes in deacon training? As a cleric, you need to know the law so that you know to whom you must refuse Holy Communion. If Joe Biden came to your Communion line, you must by law refuse to give him Communion.
Stacy, I actually took canon law at two Catholic universities, one of which was orthodox. I’m not disputing the canon you cite. I would be able to refuse Holy Communion to a public figure promoting grave sin. And, my pastor and bishop would back me. That said, since priests and deacons of the Archdiocese of Washington DC are subject to Cardinal Gregory and he has stated that Mr. Biden should be able to receive Holy Communion, those men, as well as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, are in a different situation. Their bishop is giving them “orders,” interpreting canon law and making a determination (even if a wrong one) about Mr. Biden’s standing in the Church. Bishops do have authority in the Church, more than the rest of us, even if they use it badly. Personally, I’m relieved I don’t face that situation. I’ve never had a bad bishop, but I do serve my bishop, the people of our diocese and Christ first.
You’ll hear the argument, “How do you know he didn’t go to Confession, before approaching for Holy Communion?” To which I would respond, “Public promotion of sin requires public repentance.”
This is in no way good news. These funds provide care mostly for the working poor, the disabled and seniors. I find this decision contrary to the Church’s teachings to respect life from conception through natural death. Realistically, the percentage of funds uses for terminations is not high. This decision punishes the many for the poor choices of the few.
‘HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in the statement that California had violated federal conscience laws and refused to take corrective action. “So we are now taking action to hold them to account,” he said.’
So, Annette, what corrective action do you recommend? Nothing? You can’t be serious. California had been warned repeatedly that it was in violation of the law.
Termination of what? It’s called destroying a life which has already begun. So call your governor and tell him to stop funding the killing of little girls/boys in the womb. It’s that simple. If enough people do that the poor will not have to suffer. It’s his decision and whether so-called terminations are low, even one life matters.
Why does the left never consider what they do to be “extreme overreach”?
Appalling too is that make-work swamp leeches of either party or any bureau have hundreds of millions of our hard-earned cash to throw around like so much chicken feed.
So Gavin Newsom doesn’t consider killing babies extreme?
James, of course not. He went to a Jesuit university.