WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation on Wednesday to stop underage “gender transitions” and most abortions from being covered by insurance plans on the Obamacare health exchanges.

The Prohibiting Abortion & Transgender Procedures on the Exchanges Act states that an “Exchange may not make available any health plan, including any health plan offering excepted benefits” that includes coverage for “abortion, except in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, or unless the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest”; or “gender-transition procedures for minors,” including puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, or surgeries.

Abortion – the destruction of an innocent unborn baby in his mother’s womb – is never medically necessary or justifiable.

“It’s time to ban abortion and gender-transition procedures for minors on the healthcare exchanges. No more loopholes,” declared Hawley, who explained that the bill essentially takes the Hyde amendment’s annual abortion constraints on federal budgets and applies them permanently to the exchanges established under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare.

The proposal comes amid a battle over tax credits that were extended under ACA during the COVID-19 era are slated to expire at the end of the year. There are bipartisan calls to extend them, but disagreement over the details, such as the duration of the extension and whether to pair it with other spending cuts. Dozens of pro-life groups are calling on Congress to ensure that any such extension is specifically written to exclude insurance plans that cover abortions.

Especially without Roe v. Wade to ensure abortion’s legality, the industry relies heavily on taxpayer funding to stay in operation. Last year, Planned Parenthood’s most recent annual report revealed that its affiliates across the nation took in $699.3 million in government “health services” reimbursements and grants, accounting for 39 percent of its total revenue during that period. At the same time, the abortion chain committed 392,715 abortions – yet its non-abortion procedures, such as pap tests and cancer screenings, continued to decline as percentages of its overall business. 

Within weeks of returning to office, President Donald Trump began enforcing Hyde, reinstated the Mexico City Policy (which forbids non-governmental organizations from using taxpayer dollars for most abortions abroad), and cut millions in pro-abortion subsidies by freezing U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) spending. 

In March, the Trump administration froze Title X “family planning” grants to nonprofits it said violated its executive orders on immigration and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including Planned Parenthood affiliates in nine states.

This summer, Trump signed his so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (BBB) that includes a one-year ban on federal tax dollars going through Medicaid to any entity that provides abortions for reasons other than rape, incest, or supposed threats to the mother’s life. Roughly 60 percent of PPWI’s clients are covered by Medicaid.

Other Republicans have proposed standalone measures to fully cut off Planned Parenthood’s government funding: the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, which permanently bans federal funds from being used for abortion; and the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, which disqualifies Planned Parenthood and its affiliates specifically. But they would require 60 votes to make it through the Senate.