Contact: Jeff Sagnip, 202-225-3765, chrissmith.house.gov

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2013 /Standard Newswire/ -- Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) today released the following statement regarding Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's remarks that she did not know which plans on the federal exchange will pay for abortions during testimony on Capitol Hill.

"It is an outrage -- it doesn't pass the straight face test and it's just not believable -- that at this stage Sebelius cannot, or will not, tell consumers how to find out whether the plans they are considering include abortions that painfully dismember or chemically poison unborn children," said Smith, a 32-year member of Congress and co-chairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Prolife Caucus.
 
"Today, when my colleague, Rep. John Shimkus confronted Secretary Sebelius about this lack of transparency and asked her to commit to making clear whether a plan includes abortion coverage or not,  Sebelius said she didn't know, but will check. Seriously?

"Why are they hiding?  Any detailed review reveals that it is virtually impossible for consumers looking at exchange plans to identify which, if any of the Obamacare exchange plans on their state exchange include or exclude abortion."

The "Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act," (H.R. 3279) was introduced by Smith to require prominent, transparent disclosure of abortion coverage for each plan offered on an exchange.

The ACA contains the most radical departure from the principles of the Hyde amendment to become federal law since the 1970s.  It deviates from decades of abortion policy by allowing taxpayer money to flow to plans that include coverage for abortion on demand. As a part of this deviation from the Hyde amendment, plans that include abortion will charge a mandatory abortion surcharge.