It’s come to light that three hundred unborn children were killed in the District of Columbia in the period when a ban on publicly-funded abortions there was temporarily lifted, more than double an earlier count of the believed dead:
For decades Congress has used its power over the District of Columbia to ban the city from paying for abortions for poor women, but during a two-year period when lawmakers reversed course at least 300 women got city-funded procedures, according to data obtained by The Associated Press. …
The number of abortions the city now says it paid for contrasts with previous statements.
In May, Mayor Vincent Gray reported to Congress that the city had paid about $62,000 to provide 117 abortions to women whose health care was covered by Medicaid and the D.C. HeathCare Alliance, programs serving low-income residents. The mayor’s office said Thursday in an email that the discrepancy reflects the fact bills were not submitted on time, but that 300 procedures was the
correct number.City spokeswoman Doxie McCoy said that the exact number of abortions the city paid for could still rise because claims are still being processed.
This is horrifying of course because they died thanks to our federal tax money, as there is no such thing as purely local tax funding in the District:
Congress’ control over Washington’s affairs and budget puts it in a unique position on city abortion funding. Like all states, Washington has been prohibited by Congress since the 1970s from using federal money to pay for abortions for women on Medicaid except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother. But states can use their own tax dollars to pay for the procedures for women on Medicaid if they wish.
The ban, lifted briefly between 1993-94 and again in December 2009, was reinstated as one of the few pro-life victories Republicans managed to wrench from Obama’s grip during the budget battle this Spring.
Edit: There are local taxes in D.C., but they are appropriated by Congress, where U.S. lawmakers fund the city’s budget. Therefore some have argued that this funding can be thought of as separate from the pool of federal taxes only in a rather token sense.