Confirmed: Obamacare Plans Cover Abortion

A federal watchdog agency confirms that Obamacare plans are covering abortion. The Government Accountability Office found that about 4.4 million Americans are enrolled in Obamacare plans that cover abortions beyond the exceptions permitted under the Hyde Amendment. Catholic Votes' Tom McCluskey said the report confirms what Catholic Votes has known since 2010, Obamacare pays for abortion. According to the GAO's report, 1,719 of the 6,655 qualified health care plans offered through the Obamacare exchange cover non-accepted abortion services, or abortions that directly violate the pro-life Hyde Amendment.

Although federal subsidies do not directly pay for abortions under Obamacare, Republicans and pro-life groups argue that using them to subsidize insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage violates the principle behind the Hyde Amendment. The decades-old Hyde Amendment prohibits federal dollars from paying for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life.

Today is also the Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine. Who is an Italian cardinal and theologian, an opponent of the Protestant doctrines of the Reformation. He is considered a leading figure in the Catholic Counter-Reformation. I'm Josh Mercer, editor of The Loop, taking you behind the headlines. Go to zeal.co for the rest of today's loop, and while you're at it, subscribe to get The Loop in your inbox every morning. Again, that's zeal.co.