12.16.25 (POSITION STATEMENT)–On December 11, the United States Senate was unsuccessful in its attempt to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits ahead of their imminent expiration. Now, an alternative health care plan attacking abortion access while wholly failing to lower health care costs will be voted on in the House of Representatives on December 17.

“In reality, by allowing the ACA tax credits to expire, the so-called ‘Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act’ will force nearly 20 million people to face higher premiums while millions more are expected to lose their health insurance altogether,” said Sara Outterson, Chief Federal Legislative Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Alarmingly, the proposed legislation also restricts access to abortion, prohibiting cost-sharing subsidy funding from going to plans that cover this essential care. Let’s be clear: penalizing insurers that cover abortion care in an attempt to force them to drop this coverage entirely is nothing short of a backdoor attempt to ban abortion coverage nationwide.

“Under the ACA, states have the right to mandate abortion coverage in all plans participating in their Health Care Marketplaces. This provision has allowed 12 states to pass laws requiring coverage of this essential care. If passed, this bill will directly conflict with states’ rights to enforce their laws and to codify new protections, representing an unprecedented interference into the private insurance market. This proposal truly puts the lie to the fallacy that after Dobbs ‘abortion would be left to the states.’

“The Center for Reproductive Rights urges members of Congress to reject efforts to use abortion as a smokescreen to justify refusing to lower health care costs and to instead permanently extend ACA tax credits that keep health care affordable for millions of families.”