The Maryland Senate has approved a bill that would use money collected from insurance surcharges to fund abortions in the state. If passed, it would make Maryland the first state to use the $1 surcharge collected from insurance plans sold through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to pay for the killing of preborn children.
Senate Bill 848 was passed Monday, following a similar bill introduced by Lesley J. Lopez in the House of Delegates. Though both passed, the two bills will have to be reconciled before being sent to Governor Wes Moore’s desk to be signed into law.
Though the $1 surcharge is not new, it has not yet been used, leading to $25 million in money currently not allocated for anything. With these bills, it will now be used solely to pay for abortions, with Budget and Tax Committee Chair Guy Guzzone testifying that it’s a good use of the money.
“It’s probably pretty unusual for you to see me here on an abortion bill — because I’m just the numbers guy. I just do budget,” he said. “But this is about money. I was interested in the fact that it’s about some money that’s sort of locked up right now.”
Comptroller Brooke Lierman oddly tried to claim that because abortion is so cheap, there will be plenty of money leftover, saying, “The truth is, the true cost of abortion care coverage is mere pennies on the dollar, leaving a significant portion of these funds untouched.”
Yet the bills also specifically state that the money can only be used for the abortion fund, making this argument completely moot.
Laura Bogley, executive director for Maryland Right to Life, said that this bill will only serve to further push low-income Marylanders into having abortions.
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“This bill uses insurance premiums from insured women to abort the children of uninsured women,” she said while testifying. “This not only increases health care costs for all, but it also infringes on our First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.”
Because the fund would work directly with ACA, the money from it could only be used specifically for abortion, and not for anything else, like maintaining abortion facilities or providing security. A similar effort failed last year because there was confusion from the attorney general’s office over whether or not the money could be used legally to directly fund abortion, but the new bills have received approval from both the state comptroller and the attorney general.
Maryland is one of the most pro-abortion states in the country, with no limits on gestational age. It already has millions of dollars dedicated to funding abortion. Gov. Moore has publicly advertised Maryland as a “safe haven” for abortion, indicating that he would likely sign the effort into law. If he does, it will take effect on July 1.
