A Catholic pro-life organization is urging President Donald Trump to direct the Internal Revenue Service to end tax breaks for abortions, asserting that killing babies does not qualify as medical care.
CatholicVote launched an initiative calling on Trump to instruct the IRS to clarify that abortions cannot be considered medical care under section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The group argues that the current policy provides unjust tax deductions for a practice it views as ending innocent human lives rather than providing health care.
The change to include abortions as deductible expenses was made quietly by IRS bureaucrats, who lack the authority to define health care, according to CatholicVote. The organization says this decision was wrong at the time and remains so, especially following the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortion nationwide.
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“This undermines the basic moral consensus, which transcends party lines, that Americans should not be compelled to fund abortion with their tax dollars,” said CatholicVote President and CEO Kelsey Reinhardt. “In his first term, President Trump defended that line clearly and consistently. We are asking him to do so again, and rescind this egregious IRS provision. It has to stop.”
“Abortion is not health care and the IRS has no competency to declare that it is. The code was changed by bureaucrats behind closed doors. Most Americans don’t even know they are subsidizing abortion in this way,” Reinhardt said. “President Trump has the opportunity to correct this awful practice and save lives. We implore him to do so.”
“It was the wrong decision then. And it is wrong today,” the group stated in its appeal. “The time has come to scrap this bureaucratic rule that provides tax breaks for abortions.”
CatholicVote emphasizes that Trump can implement this change without congressional approval, offering him flexibility on health care policy.
The group is encouraging Catholics to contact the president, with the message: “Tell the IRS: Abortion is not health care.”
The initiative aligns with pro-life efforts to eliminate government policies perceived as subsidizing abortion in the post-Roe era, where state laws now govern whether babies are killed in abortions.
Trump, who appointed justices instrumental in overturning Roe, has not yet responded to the call. During his first term, he advanced several pro-life policies, including restrictions on federal funding for abortion companies like Planned Parenthood.
