Nessel urges congressional leadership to reject proposed ACA restrictions on reproductive care

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined a letter with 20 other state attorneys general to U.S. congressional leadership from both parties, urging them to reject a proposal that would tie extended tax credits for the Affordable Care Act to a ban on coverage of abortion, calling it an “effort to implement a back-door federal abortion ban.”

Tax credit extensions for the Affordable Care Act were a key sticking point for Democrats that led to a record-long federal government shutdown this fall, which ended after parties agreed to renegotiate the tax credit. The letter characterized the move as “a brazen attempt to stymie extension of the tax credits by threatening access to critical healthcare in an already hostile environment.”

The attorneys general also emphasized the importance of states’ sovereignty in determining coverage under each state’s health care marketplace, which has long been a part of the Affordable Care Act’s structure.

“This attempt to use essential abortion care as a bargaining chip to extend ACA tax credits shows a blatant disregard for the health and rights of millions of Americans,” Nessel said in a press release from her office. “We’ve already seen the devastating consequences of gutting access to reproductive health care, and further restricting care would only make things worse. Congress must reject this latest concerted effort to interfere with personal medical decisions.” 

The letter also emphasized that federal dollars, under the initial passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010, are not used to fund abortion services except in very limited cases. 

The proposal comes just a week after a federal judge granted an injunction in a lawsuit filed by Nessel and leaders from other states that sought to block a provision of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that would defund Planned Parenthood.