I’m the Uterus Taxman, Yeah, I’m the Uterus Taxman

The Georgia Uterus Police are soooo two weeks ago.

Remember H.R. 3, the GOP’s “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion” bill?  You might also know it as the “When is Rape Not Rape” bill? Although for more than 25 years the Hyde Amendment has prohibited the use of federal money for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the woman, the new bill would forbid using any tax benefits (i.e. deductions or credits) to pay for health insurance that covers abortion or to pay for abortions themselves.

On Wednesday, Thomas Barthold, the Chief of Staff of the nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee testified to a House subcommittee that under H.R. 3, the Internal Revenue Service, when auditing individuals who may have used their own money from Health Savings Accounts to pay for an abortion, would require documentation from said taxpayers proving the abortion was from a pregnancy caused by rape or incest.  If a taxpayer who used such a benefit were to be audited, Barthold said, the burden of proof would lie with the taxpayer to provide documentation that her abortion fell under the rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception, or that the health insurance she had purchased did not cover abortions.

It appears that the GOP’s concern with cutting taxes and taking on the so-called jackbooted thugs of the IRS does not extend to getting the jackboots off of  the lady-bits.

[Think Progress and apologies to the late George Harrison]