{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415829", "The Daily Wire exclusive article on Smith-requested report'EXCLUSIVE: Obamacare Plans Use Taxpayer Dollars For Abortions, Watchdog Finds'", "2026-09-15", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "By Mary Margaret Olohan\n\nPublished September 15, 2026\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014A nonpartisan federal watchdog on Tuesday revealed that Obamacare subsidizes abortions, upending a longtime Democrat talking point, The Daily Wire can first report.\n\nNearly a third of Affordable Care Act plans cover abortions, the Government Accountability Office found. Of the 6,655 qualified health plans offered on Obamacare exchanges, 1,719 cover \u201cnon-excepted abortion services,\u201d meaning elective abortions that are not the result of rape, incest, or danger to the mother\u2019s life. States that have banned abortion prohibit exchange plans from covering these services.\n\nAbout 4.4 million Americans are enrolled in Obamacare plans that cover abortions, the report found.\n\n(Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)\n\n\u201cAs a strong defender of life, I find the results of today\u2019s GAO report deeply concerning,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune told The Daily Wire. \u201cAmerican taxpayer dollars should not be used to subsidize elective abortions in violation of the longstanding Hyde Amendment.\u201d\n\nRepublicans have long said that the Hyde Amendment \u2014 which bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in cases where the unborn baby is conceived through rape or incest, or when the mother\u2019s life is in danger \u2014 should apply to Obamacare plans. Critics say that Democrats have misled the public about when Obamacare plans are subject to Hyde rules.\n\nSenate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s GAO report confirms the very concerns that Republicans have raised for over fifteen years,\u201d New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith told The Daily Wire. \u201cThe ACA fails to apply the longstanding and bipartisan Hyde Amendment law, which protects taxpayer dollars from funding abortion, both directly and through federal health plans.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, some Republicans pushed back strongly when President Donald Trump suggested that they should be flexible on the Hyde Amendment. Smith, who leads the congressional Pro-Life Caucus, is urging the president to sound the alarm over Obamacare coverage of abortion unless and until Congress can pass legislation that mandates full Hyde protections for all ACA plans.\n\n\u201cAmerican taxpayers deserve complete transparency and truthfulness as to where their hard-earned dollars are going \u2014 and under the ACA as it currently stands, that\u2019s just not possible,\u201d Smith said.\n\nSmith is calling on President Trump to reissue the Exchange Program Integrity Final Rule, which would ensure that \u201cconsumers understand whether a plan subsidizes elective abortion.\u201d The congressman argues that Democrats have for years deceived pro-life Americans for years about whether ACA plans cover abortions, and that, as a result, Obamacare has \u201cstrong-armed\u201d Americans into \u201cpaying for health plans that do not respect the sanctity of life.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe ACA allows premium tax credits to be directed towards health insurance coverage that includes elective abortion,\u201d Smith says. \u201cFederal taxpayer dollars \u2014 even from individuals living in pro-life states \u2014 are subsidizing plans that include elective abortion coverage for over 4.4 million people. The report also found that some insurance issuers failed to comply with the ACA\u2019s consumer transparency provision, which requires plans to prominently disclose abortion coverage.\u201d\n\nSeveral pieces of legislation floating around Capitol Hill could subject Obamacare plans to the Hyde Amendment, a Senate aide told The Daily Wire. One is the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which would codify Hyde across the federal government. That legislation is led by Smith in the House of Representatives and Roger Wicker in the Senate, with 125 cosponsors in the House and 50 cosponsors in the Senate.\n\nRepublican leadership under Senator Mitch McConnell first requested that the GAO review Obamacare\u2019s coverage of abortion in 2014. A 2014 report found that 1,036 qualified health plans in 28 states covered abortions, while 1,062 did not. The 2026 report found that 1,719 of 6,655 qualified health plans in the 50 states and the District of Columbia covered abortions.\n\n\u201cAs we approach the 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment on September 30th,\u201d Smith said, \u201cwe renew the call to enforce this critical, lifesaving protection within the ACA without further delay.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=415829"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7704212330281734, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}