The Trump administration is probing thirteen states that allegedly force insurance providers to cover abortion.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters Wednesday notifying states with abortion coverage mandates of the investigation and requesting information about how their policies are being implemented, according to an HHS official.
“We are concerned about this because it means that thousands of people and employers, including religious employers, churches, but also employers who may be private citizens, but who object to abortion and would prefer that their health plans not cover it, are also coerced into purchasing a plan that covers abortion are not free in the marketplace to purchase abortion-free coverage,” the official said.
States with mandates for state-regulated insurers to cover abortion include California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
The HHS investigation builds on earlier efforts to enforce the agency’s conscience protections, a priority outlined out at the beginning of the President Donald Trump’s second term, as well as “the dignity of human life.”
Under the Weldon Amendment — part of a law Congress passed in 2005 — states and local governments that receive federal funds cannot discriminate against healthcare entities for choosing not to “pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.” OCR rescinded a Biden-era letter in January that excluded “health plan sponsors or employers” from the definition of a “healthcare entity.”
In January, OCR also notified Illinois about a law that “unlawfully ties health care provider conscience protections to referral requirements in the case of abortion.”
While there are no active complaints in the states under investigation, OCR has received complaints about some states in the past, though the Biden administration shut down investigations in 2021, the official said.
During Trump’s first term, the HHS issued a notice of violation to California in January 2020 explaining it “violated the Weldon Amendment by discriminating against health care plans that limited or excluded abortion coverage.” California’s decision “forced over 28,000 people out of plans that up until that time had chosen to not cover elective abortions,” according to the 2020 notice.
Each state will have 20 days to respond to OCR’s letters requesting documents and information. If states resist after an investigation finds them not in compliance, OCR can pursue enforcement through withholding funding or referring the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the official said.
Ahead of the March for Life in January, the administration announced several pro-life policies, such as an expansion of the Mexico City policy restricting foreign aid funds from promoting abortion and an investigation into whether Planned Parenthood illegally received over $88 million in COVID-19 loans.
The administration’s relationship with pro-life organizations has grown increasingly difficult. During a March 11 press conference on Capitol Hill, SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said efforts to convince the administration to reinstate safeguards on the abortion pill are at a “dead-end.”
The Department of Justice has filed motions opposing Republican states’ challenges to FDA rules surrounding the abortion pill in court, sparking pushback from pro-life advocates.
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