Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price isn’t a month into his new job and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is already asking him to take a weed-whacker to President Barack Obama’s abortion legacy. Specifically, the majority leader wants Price to enforce what’s known as the Weldon Amendment to kill an abortion-related government mandate in California.
The Weldon Amendment, a Bush-era statute, prohibits states and local governments that receive federal funds from discriminating against healthcare providers who refuse to provide or refer clients to abortion services.
Thanks to a pained interpretation, McCarthy argues, the law fell into disrepair during the Obama administration. Now, for lack of a more clever phrase, he wants to make conscience rights great again.
In a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner, the second-ranking House Republican asks Price to evaluate whether the Weldon Amendment would end California’s abortion mandate.
Last July, the Obama administration dismissed complaints that the state violated religious liberty laws when they required insurers to cover elective abortions under Obamacare. As written, the Weldon Amendment applies specifically to doctors and religious hospitals. Anti-abortion activists wanted it applied to the insurers as well.
As the Associated Press reported at the time, the office for Civil Rights at HHS declined. The director of that department, Jocelyn Samuels, reasoned that the amendment applied to individuals, not insurance companies. As a result, California religious organizations complain that they were left with two options: violate their conscience or drop coverage.
Now McCarthy wants Price to re-evaluate the law. “We shouldn’t force those who oppose abortion to pay for abortions,” McCarthy told Examiner. “Several of my colleagues and I sent a letter to Secretary Tom Price today so that we can finally resolve this issue, protect life, and stop government from forcing people to violate their consciences.”
The majority leader also wants Price to revisit whether the Weldon Amendment is violated by state laws requiring crisis pregnancy centers to refer women to abortion clinics.
As evident by his rating of 0 percent from NARAL Pro-Choice America during his 12-year congressional career, Price will likely oblige. When in Congress, the orthopedic surgeon-turned-politician cosponsored dozens of anti-abortion bills. There’s little reason to expect a shift in that stance now.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
