Anybody remember H.R. 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act?" Most people forgot about it after the "forcible rape" language was taken out (to be perfectly honest, it kind of dropped off of my radar as well). This past Wednesday, Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff of the nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee, explained to the House taxation subcommittee, that if H.R. 3 was passed, women would be unable to use tax benefits such as credits or deductions to pay for their abortions. If a woman did so, and was subsequently audited, she would have to prove to an IRS agent that she had been raped, was a survivor of incest, had aborted to save her life, or that her insurance does not cover abortions. I know that the IRS likes to dig in our lives (I was once encouraged to save my doughnut receipt in case I got audited), but now they're in charge of investigating our sexual assaults?
The thing that really scares me is this: "The bill contains no instructions for how the IRS should enforce it. The wording of the legislation is so vague that the Joint Tax Committee offered several different interpretations of which parts of the tax code it might actually affect. But the law will unquestionably affect some portion of the tax code—an entire section of the bill is titled 'Prohibition on Tax Benefits Relating to Abortion.'" No instructions. When people are told to enforce, but not how or why, constituents get abused. Full stop. I'm terrified to see what happens.
Read the full article at Mother Jones, and when you stop vomiting, go to Hell Yes Happy Dogs. Just a bunch of happy dogs to clear your palate.
Love, Briana
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