For Immediate Release: Sept. 15, 2026
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Washington, D.C. – A new report from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office confirms that, of 6,655 taxpayer-funded Obamacare exchange plans on the individual market, more than a quarter continue to subsidize elective abortions that are prohibited under the Hyde Amendment—affecting about 4.4 million of the 19 million Americans covered by such plans. Elective abortion coverage is offered in 19 states, while 13 states require it and 13 states have no laws on the subject at all.

House and Senate Republican leaders requested the GAO’s analysis and called for protections against forced taxpayer funding of abortion, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) calling the GAO findings “deeply concerning.”

Then-President Obama issued an executive order supposedly to keep his signature legislation from funding abortions (“accounting gimmick”), but this was deceptive, because the law does not include true Hyde Amendment language and the Obama administration allowed insurers to collect a “separate” abortion surcharge together with regular premiums.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) directs exchange plan issuers to indicate whether elective abortion is covered, and to what extent, on Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents. However, the GAO report also raises concerns that some consumers still do not have transparent access to information on the full scope of abortion coverage until after they enroll.

“Obamacare was the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion in American history after Roe v. Wade. Tax dollars have paid for the violent deaths of countless babies, in an end run around the longstanding protections of the Hyde Amendment. Democrats’ gaslighting is inexcusable,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “While the Hyde Amendment has saved nearly 2.7 million lives in its 50-year existence, Obamacare is a glaring exception. Pro-life voices warned from the start that its sham ‘accounting gimmick’ was a ruse to get pro-life holdouts’ votes. The so-called pro-life Democrats paid a major political price for betraying their constituents, with 15 of them losing their House seats.

“Americans overwhelmingly want limits on abortion, especially painful late-term abortions, and forcing taxpayers to fund them remains unpopular. Yet today’s Democrats caused the longest government shutdown in history in order to expand taxpayer-funded abortion on demand until the moment of birth. There is no doubt they will eliminate the filibuster, pass a national all-trimester abortion mandate and scrap Hyde protections completely if they get the chance.

“We thank Leader Thune, Speaker Johnson, Rep. Chris Smith, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Sen. James Lankford, and all our pro-life congressional allies for tirelessly exposing abortion lobby lies. We must always fight to protect unborn children and their mothers and keep American taxpayers entirely out of Big Abortion’s brutal business.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is a network of more than one million pro-life Americans nationwide, dedicated to ending abortion by electing national leaders and advocating for laws that save lives, with a special calling to promote pro-life women leaders.

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