The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to reverse an 11-year-old ruling that allows parents whose babies live momentarily after abortions to claim them as dependents for a full tax year, it was reported Tuesday.
Quoting a congressional source ”close to the IRS` decision,” the Washington Times said the IRS was preparing an announcement ”reversing its policy . . . to make sure that you don`t get a dependency exemption for a baby born alive that is aborted.”
The Times said the change is the result of a request by Sen. Jesse Helms
(R., N.C.) to IRS Commissioner Roscoe Egger in December to explain the ruling.
Rod Young, an IRS spokesman, told the newspaper that Egger`s findings would be sent to Helms and not be officially announced by the IRS.
Helms` letter said the IRS ruling, although it does not directly refer to abortion, does allow an interpretation that ”at least in theory, a tax incentive would be provided for parents to seek an abortion in which the child is born alive and then dies,” the Times said.
