Trump administration to cut $200m from California funding because of state abortion policy
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is slashing California’s healthcare funding by $200 million because a 2014 state law requires insurance providers to pay for abortions, the Washington Examiner reports. In a statement, the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said the 2014 law is in breach of federal anti-discrimination conscience legislation that protects insurers from a requirement to cover abortions.
California officials were informed earlier this year that the state could lose federal healthcare funding if it did not revoke its law requiring employer and private insurance plans to cover abortions. However, California was found by the DHHS not to have complied with the request. “So we are now taking action to hold [California] to account,” DHHS Secretary Alex Azar said in the statement.
On Wednesday the government announced its intention to cut California’s funding from Medicaid starting in January 2021. The department added that if California “does not come into compliance” it will cut a further $200 million per fiscal quarter in healthcare funding to the state.
The complaint against California was brought to the attention of the Trump administration by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR): “Whatever one thinks of the legality of abortion, no one should be punished for declining to pay for or assist in the taking of human life,” OCR Director Roger Severino said in a statement.
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