Do you have a receipt for your abortion?

[cynatnite]

Under a GOP-backed bill expected to sail through the House of Representatives, the Internal Revenue Service would be forced to police how Americans have paid for their abortions. To ensure that taxpayers complied with the law, IRS agents would have to investigate whether certain terminated pregnancies were the result of rape or incest. And one tax expert says that the measure could even lead to questions on tax forms: Have you had an abortion? Did you keep your receipt?

In testimony to a House taxation subcommittee on Wednesday, Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff of the nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee, confirmed that one consequence of the Republicans' "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" would be to turn IRS agents into abortion cops—that is, during an audit, they'd have to detemine, from evidence provided by the taxpayer, whether any tax benefit had been inappropriately used to pay for an abortion.

snip:
"Were this to become law, people could end up in an audit, the subject of which could be abortion, rape, and incest," says Christopher Bergin, the head of Tax Analysts, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit tax policy group. "If you pass the law like this, the IRS would be required to enforce it."

The proposal, which House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has declared a top priority of the new Republican Congress, has 221 cosponsors and is expected to pass the House easily. The bill caused controversy and sparked a national protest campaign in January after Mother Jones reported that it would limit the Hyde Amendment's rape exception to cases of "forcible rape." Experts told Mother Jones that move could prevent Medicaid from paying for abortions in many rape cases, including statutory rapes. Despite the presence of many other controversial provisions, the bill regained momentum after its sponsors promised to strip the "forcible rape" language. But during Wednesday's hearing, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) highlighted the IRS enforcement issue, which has until now flown under the radar. He asked:

Would a woman have to certify that the Health Savings Account funds she spent on birth control pills or for a doctor's visit weren't used to pay for an abortion? If a woman were audited, would IRS agents be at her house demanding court documents or affidavits proving that her pregnancy was the result of rape or incest?

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/gop-bill-irs-abortion-audits

Damn it! I wish these fuckers would stay the hell out of my uterus! :grr:

[truebrit71]

1. How does this create jobs. You know, their "number one priority"...

...who would have thought that a bunch of religious whackos would institute draconian Sharia-type laws on the female population of the country once elected?:sarcasm:

[thecrow]

8. IRS jobs?

[Drale]

2. I really doesn't matter what crazy laws they pass

because they will never make it past the senate and they are just giving more ammo to the left in the next election.

[get the red out]

3. I'll soon be too old to be attacked by these SOB's

But for the sake of my nieces I'd like to jerk these fanatical fuck-heads up and hang 'em by the balls. There is NOTHING more disgusting than some religious FREAK making onerous, angry, rules to control women. You know they must surely doubt their own miserable manhood.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. How much taxdollar $ will go into these audits...

...and what is the cost relative to federally funded abortions for women living below poverty level?

[Newest Reality]

5. That's right

Teabackers and Wreckpublican'ts: Your whack-jobbers in office will "get government off your backs" alright. These clowns will just move right into the womb.

Oh, and I guess the Womb Patrol will create some jobs, ey?

[Duer 157099]

6. JFC n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. How Republican, a way to waste our tax dollars and be sadistic voyers at the same time

They're all a bunch of sick perverted bastards with a fixation on women reproductive organs. They need to get over it already.

[Ilsa]

9. Absolutely ridiculous and infuriating. The IRS has no right to know

Whether I've had an abortion. I guess medical privacy means nothing in the US now.

[tallahasseedem]

12. This has to be a violation of HIPAA...

I'm going to have to research this.

[cynatnite]

13. I would think so. Let us know what you find. n/t

[undeterred]

10. I want GOP senators to show receipts from their hookers.

[tallahasseedem]

11. Oh FFS...

and this is the party that advocates smaller government?

Not that it was a question before, but I WILL be voting a straight Democratic ticket in 2012.

[LynneSin]

14. And how much of our Taxdollars will be spent to patrol this?

Isn't the GOP suppose to be making cuts in the budget? I'd rather use this money to pay for education or healthcare, not for the Dead-Fetus Police.

[L. Coyote]

15. Conservatives don't change, but

the old ones die :rofl: