PRO-LIFE REPUBLICANS SAY: END TAXPAYER-FUNDED ABORTION COVERAGE FOR CONGRESS NOW

The following information was released by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC):

By Raimundo Rojas

Outreach and Events Director

National Right to Life

On December 5, 2025, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) took a bold step to close a loophole that has quietly funneled taxpayer dollars into health insurance plans covering abortion for Members of Congress and their staff.

They sent a letter to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Scott Kupor, demanding an immediate end to this special treatment. Dozens of Republican lawmakers signed on. This letter is a significant development in the fight against taxpayer-funded. It exposes a deliberate, decade-long loophole that has allowed Members of Congress and their staff to receive taxpayer subsidies for health plans that cover elective abortion, something explicitly forbidden for every other federal employee under the Smith Amendment.

Here's the issue.

For over 40 years, the Smith Amendment has made it illegal to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions or for administrative costs tied to any health plan that includes abortion, except in rare cases (rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life). Federal employees must follow this rule, and as a result, their health plans don't cover elective abortion.

But Congress gave itself a loophole.

Thanks to a rule enacted in 2013 under the disastrous Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), Members of Congress and their staff were moved into Washington, D.C.'s small-business health exchange. This allowed them to enroll in private plans that cover abortion, as long as the abortion-related costs were "segregated" and billed separately to the employee.

Which means that taxpayers still foot the bill for up to 75% of the total cost of these plans, including all administrative costs, which can support abortion coverage behind the scenes. Pro-life lawmakers say that's not just shady, it directly violates the Smith Amendment and the Anti-Deficiency Act, which blocks unauthorized spending of federal dollars.

Enough is enough.

The lawmakers aren't just complaining; they've actually got a simple fix for compliance. Of all the available Gold-level plans on the D.C. exchange for 2026, only two do not include abortion coverage:

CareFirst Blue Preferred PPO Gold

UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus Gold

OPM can and should restrict federal contributions to those two plans. It's that easy.

With Republicans in control of the House, Senate, and White House, there's no excuse not to act.

Senator Lee, Congressman Smith, and their colleagues have drawn a line. They're calling out this backdoor abortion funding and demanding an end to Congress's abortion insurance scam.

The law is clear. The time to enforce it is now. The Smith Amendment isn't a suggestion; it's the law.