Officials in Connecticut have agreed to offer health insurance that does not cover abortion, after they faced a lawsuit from a pro-life couple who did not want to pay for other people’s abortions.
Barth and Abbie Bracy discovered that every Obamacare health plan available in the state included a compulsory extra payment that can only be used to fund abortion.
Healthcare providers are banned from revealing information about this fee, so many people are unaware of it.
Lawsuit
The Bracys voluntarily dropped their lawsuit last week after officials said that health insurance plans which do not include the hidden charge for abortion would be made available in the state.
Religious liberty organisation Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) provided support for the Bracys’ case.
ADF senior lawyer Casey Mattox said: “Americans should not have to pay a special fee for other people’s abortions in order to take care of their own family’s health”.
Secret fee
“While we are pleased that Connecticut families will now have a choice to avoid paying this abortion surcharge, it is a shame that other families won’t have that choice, and that most Americans don’t even know that they must pay this secret fee”, he added.
Last week the campaign group Family Research Council joined with the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute to launch a website that exposes which insurance providers cover abortion.
Earlier this year, a Christian-run business won a “landmark” religious liberty case in the US Supreme Court, meaning it will not have to provide its employees with health insurance covering abortion-inducing drugs.