EXCLUSIVE: HHS Axes Multimillion-Dollar Blue State Abortion Grant Program

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is asking Maryland to rescind its Public Health Abortion Grant Program, which used federal funds under the Affordable Care Act to pay for abortions.

“Under the Trump Administration, CMS will uphold the law that prohibits the use of taxpayer funding for abortion,” CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said in statement to The Daily Signal. “We’re putting states that try to circumvent statutory prohibitions on abortion funding on notice.”

The administration had informed the Maryland insurance commissioner in a letter obtained by The Daily Signal that the state’s abortion grant program violated the protections against federal funding of abortions.

Section 1303 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother is endangered.

The statute allows private insurance plans to cover abortion if federal subsidies for the plans are kept completely separate from abortion coverage.

Enrollees pay at least $1 per month out of pocket into a separate account designated for abortion coverage.

Maryland’s Public Health Abortion Grant Program gives grants to “providers and abortion funds that provide services to individuals who cannot use their insurance for abortion care or face other coverage gaps, such as people who are under- or uninsured, young people, and those enrolled in plans with abortion restrictions (such as religious employer-sponsored plans, etc.)”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a bill into law last May establishing the abortion grant program.

The law stated that it would “be of no further force and effect” if CMS determined on or before June 30, 2031, that it violated the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on abortion funding.

CMS has determined that the law “exceeds the permissible use for these funds under Section 1303 of the ACA,” so the state will be required to end the program. Maryland Insurance Commissioner Marie Grant confirmed that she has received the letter.

The law made about $25 million available for abortions on July 1, as the $1 surcharge has grown since the ACA took effect in 2010. However, Maryland estimated it would be able to provide $3 million annually for abortions in future years.

Maryland was the first state to allocate ACA-segregated funds toward abortions.