{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2024/1/senator-lee-introduces-four-bills-to-protect-the-unborn", "Senator Lee Introduces Four Bills to Protect the Unborn", "2024-01-19", "2024", "2024-01", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", "mikelee", "https://www.lee.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 As the nation prepares to observe the annual March for Life, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is reinforcing his dedication to protecting the unborn by introducing four critical pieces of legislation: the Abortion is not Health Care Act, the Protecting Life in Health Savings Accounts Act, the Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act, and the Guaranteeing the Unborn Access to Respect and Dignity (GUARD) Act.\n\n\u201cEach human life, born and unborn, has immeasurable dignity and worth. The lives of both an unborn baby and her mother matter; and healthcare should heal, protect, and preserve both their lives. Our laws and use of taxpayer money should reflect that truth, which is why I have introduced these bills,\u201d said Sen. Lee.\n\nThe Abortion is not Health Care Act would end the tax deductibility of abortions and clarify that this gruesome practice is not health care. Currently, the IRS categorizes an abortion as \u201cmedical care\u201d and allows tax benefits to flow to this practice, subsidizing the killing of hundreds of thousands of unborn children each year. This bill would amend Section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit elective abortion expenses from being considered eligible for a medical expense deduction.\n\nCosponsors include Sens. Hagerty (R-TN), Braun (R-IN), Thune (R-SD), Rubio (R-FL), Daines (R-MT), Cramer (R-ND), Blackburn (R-TN), Hawley (R-MO), and Hyde-Smith (R-MS).\n\nFor a one-pager, click HERE.\n\nFor bill text, click HERE.\n\nThe Protecting Life in Health Savings Accounts would end the preferential tax treatment of abortion in health savings accounts. Current law allows individuals to use tax-advantaged funds from health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible savings accounts (FSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), Archer medical savings accounts (MSAs), and retiree health accounts for the \u201cmedical expense\u201d of abortion. This legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code to explicitly prevent abortions from getting a special tax advantage through the use of these accounts.\n\nCosponsors include Sens. Hagerty (R-TN), Braun (R-IN), Rubio (R-FL), Cramer (R-ND), Blackburn (R-TN), and Hyde-Smith (R-MS).\n\nFor a one-pager, click HERE.\n\nFor bill text, click HERE.\n\nThe Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act would ensure that our foreign aid is not funding or promoting abortions overseas. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan first instituted the Mexico City Policy, prohibiting the availability of family planning foreign assistance funds to organizations that provide or promote abortions or advocate to change abortion laws in a foreign country. Since then, the policy has been alternately rescinded and reinstated with changing administrations.\n\nThe Trump Administration rebranded this policy as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy and applied it to all global health assistance, foreign nonprofits, and NGOs. This bill would permanently codify an expanded version of the PLGHA policy into law, capturing all assistance provided to foreign or domestic nonprofits, NGOs, and multilateral organizations. With President Biden having rescinded the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy in 2021, American citizens may be complicit in overseas abortions under the guise of \u201cforeign assistance.\u201d Congress must ensure this cannot be the case now or ever again. Doing so would affirm the dignity of unborn human lives everywhere and save countless lives across the globe.\n\n\u201cThis will sound like common sense to most fair-minded people, but the Biden administration should not ship Americans\u2019 hard-earned taxpayer dollars overseas to fund abortions,\" said Sen. Kennedy. \"No matter who occupies the White House, America should support life at home and abroad.\u201d\n\nCosponsors include Sens. Marshall (R-KS), Blackburn (R-TN), Hyde-Smith(R-MS), Lankford (R-OK), Rubio (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Budd (R-NC), Braun (R-IN), Cramer (R-ND), Kennedy (R-LA), Hagerty (R-TN), Johnson (R-WI), Young (R-IN), Daines (R-MT), Cotton (R-AR), Fischer (R-NE), Thune (R-SD), Ricketts (R-NE), Rounds (R-SD), Hawley (R-MO), and Paul (R-KY).\n\nSupporting groups include CatholicVote and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.\n\nFor a one-pager, click HERE.\n\nFor bill text, click HERE.\n\nThe Guaranteeing the Unborn Access to Respect and Dignity (GUARD) Act would ensure that the United States Coast Guard is held to the same standards as every branch of the United States military with regard to the prohibition of using federal funds for abortions. This bill seeks to close a loophole that currently allows the Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, to use taxpayer dollars for abortion-related activities \u2013 a practice not permitted in other military branches.\n\nBy amending Title 14 of the US Code, the GUARD Act would explicitly prohibit the use of federal funds by the Coast Guard for both the performance of abortions and for any travel expenses related to abortion procedures.\n\n\u201cPreventing taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions shouldn\u2019t be controversial,\u201d said Sen. Thune. \u201cI\u2019m proud to support this legislation that would prohibit U.S. Coast Guard funds and facilities from being used for abortions, which is a blatant overreach from the Biden administration.\u201d\n\nCosponsors include Sen. John Thune (R-SD).\n\nSupporting groups include Heritage Action.\n\nFor a one-pager, click HERE.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T17:40:56Z"]], "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://www.lee.senate.gov/2024/1/senator-lee-introduces-four-bills-to-protect-the-unborn"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7053561750799417, "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"}