Federal tax code weaponized to restrict abortion access nationwide
H.R. 720 — Protecting Life in Health Savings Accounts Act · Filed by Josh Brecheen (R-OK) · 10 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 24, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit individuals from using tax-advantaged health savings accounts (HSAs), Archer MSAs, FSAs, HRAs, and retiree health accounts to pay for or reimburse abortion expenses, with narrow exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, or where the pregnancy poses a life-threatening risk to the woman. The restrictions take effect for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. The bill effectively uses federal tax policy to restrict abortion access by removing the tax advantage from these accounts for abortion-related costs.
Why we flagged it
The bill uses the Internal Revenue Code to restrict tax-advantaged health savings account distributions for abortion services, except in narrow circumstances (rape, incest, life endangerment). It is substantively a healthcare/abortion policy measure implemented through tax law rather than direct healthcare regulation.
What the text implies
- Effectively creates a federal tax-code-based abortion restriction that may circumvent direct legislative abortion bans by targeting the financial mechanism (tax-advantaged accounts) rather than the procedure itself, potentially creating a template for future restrictions via tax policy.
- Applies uniformly across HSAs, Archer MSAs, FSAs, HRAs, and retiree health accounts, creating a comprehensive tax-code barrier to abortion access for individuals using these accounts, which disproportionately affects middle-income and higher-income workers with employer-sponsored plans.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.