WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is planning on Friday to announce action against California over its requirement insurers cover abortions, according to two sources familiar with the planning.
The administration is expected to say that California’s requirement violates a federal law banning government entities that get federal money from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from discriminating against health-care organizations because they don’t provide abortion or abortion coverage, the two people said. Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has said states could be stripped of federal funding if they violate amendments that protect abortion opponents.
California’s requirement that private health insurance policies include abortion coverage was already challenged by a Catholic mission, the Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit. A three-judge panel of the California Court of Appeals in August dismissed the lawsuit.
The action is likely to rattle leaders in at least six states, including Oregon, New York and Washington, that also require abortion coverage in private health plans. Oregon Right to Life this month said it had filed a suit against Oregon’s law, which was passed in 2017. A complaint against the abortion-coverage requirement in Illinois was filed in October on behalf of the Thomas More Society, an antiabortion legal group.
A spokeswoman with the California attorney general’s office didn’t return a call and email seeking comment.
The move serves as a warning to other states that have the same provisions and is likely to further inflame the political battle over reproductive rights. The announcement, which comes as President Trump plans to speak Friday at the March for Life rally in Washington, signals an effort to court and expand support from antiabortion voters heading into the 2020 election.
The administration has expanded its use of regulatory authority to curb access to abortion, pleasing conservative groups while prompting a backlash from Democratic lawmakers and reproductive-rights groups.
For Mr. Trump, the move is part of his ongoing push to portray himself as a defender of abortion opponents. He will be the first president to personally address the annual March for Life gathering on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that recognized a nationwide right to abortion. In previous years, he appeared via video, following past Republican presidents who spoke by phone.
His campaign released a video Friday announcing the launch of Pro-Life Voices for Trump, a coalition focused on the president’s re-election.
The president’s appearance at the rally comes as his impeachment trial unfolds in the Senate. It also follows a series of recent moves by the administration aimed at evangelical voters, including a pledge to renew guidance on prayer in schools and the launch of an “Evangelicals for Trump” coalition. Conservative Christians helped power the president to the White House in 2016 and his team sees that voting bloc as key to his 2020 re-election.
“He’s not going to have to convince his base he’s pro-life, but he wants to turn out his base,” said Susan Roberts, a political-science professor at Davidson College who studies abortion activism. “Evangelicals are willing to overlook a lot of things as long as he is visibly, maybe even dramatically, pro-life.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere said that the president was a “champion for life and human dignity,” adding that he “will personally reaffirm his commitment with thousands of other Americans marching for life.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said: “Since day one, this administration has carried out a full-out assault on our health and our rights.”
She added: “People who have an abortion deserve compassion and to have access to the best health care available—not to be stigmatized and villainized by the president of the United States.“
While the president called himself “pro-choice” earlier in his career, he ran in 2016 as a strong opponent of abortion access and has long seen abortion as a winning 2020 issue. Forty-nine percent of people considered themselves “pro-life” in May 2019, up from 44% in May 2015, according to Gallup. The number of people who consider themselves “pro choice” slipped from 50 to 46% over the same period.
A constellation of tactics by the administration have curbed abortion access and the use of fetal tissue in research, and Mr. Trump has appointed abortion opponents to leadership posts.
Democrats seeking the 2020 nomination have largely offered support for federal funds for abortion, though the public remains divided on the issue and federal funds now can’t be used to pay for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or danger of life to the mother. The candidates also mostly favor limited restrictions on the procedure later in pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s super PAC in January said it would spend $45 million on the 2020 race to back candidates that support abortion rights, marking the organization’s largest electoral expenditure. The antiabortion Susan B. Anthony List said it was launching a $52 million effort to get Mr. Trump re-elected.
The president embarked on regulations aimed at restricting abortions shortly after taking office. He blocked federal funds in 2017 to international health groups that provide or advocate for abortions. He limited the use of fetal tissue from abortions in research.
The administration also sought to exempt employers with religious or moral objections to birth control from an Affordable Care Act requirement that they offer birth control, spurring a pitched legal battle that will be heard by the Supreme Court.
Last year, the administration finalized a rule that said groups getting federal family planning money couldn’t provide or refer patients for abortions if they offered the service on site. Planned Parenthood left the program, eschewing $60 million annually in funding.
This week the administration agreed to let Texas use federal funds for a Medicaid family planning program that excludes groups, such as Planned Parenthood, that also provide abortions; the Obama administration had halted the money.
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2020-01-24 13:52:00Z
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