An abortion activist urged a U.S. House committee on Friday to force taxpayers to fund abortions and compared the current restrictions on abortion funding to slavery.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday about the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for most abortions through Medicaid. The Hyde Amendment, which has had decades of strong, bipartisan support, has saved more than 1 million children from abortion in the past four decades.
However, abortion activists and their friends in the Democratic Party have made it one of their top priorities to repeal the amendment. If they succeed, an estimated 33,000 more unborn babies would lose their lives to abortion every year in America. Currently, about 1.1 million unborn babies are aborted legally in the U.S. each year.
During the hearing, Kierra Johnson, executive director of the pro-abortion group U.R.G.E., compared the Hyde Amendment to slavery and pushed for taxpayers to fund women’s and girls’ abortions.
CNS News reported what happened:
Johnson responded to a question on the impact of the Hyde amendment on low-income women, referencing an earlier comment from Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) in which he compared the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision to abortion, saying, “It’s interesting that we’re bringing up slavery in this space. When you own somebody’s decision-making, you own them.”
“The Hyde amendment is about increasing coverage of insurance,” she argued. “It is about returning decision-making back to women. It’s about setting us free.
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“When you get to decide for them whether or not their body has value, you own them whether you decide they’re valuable as black or not, you actually don’t get to make that decision,” Johnson emphasized.
“… We are not simple-minded. We are not being duped. Women are choosing to be pregnant and have children. The majority of women who have abortions are parents. They care, they care about their families.”
“We should repeal the Hyde Amendment,” she concluded.
In her testimony, Johnson also complained that Congress has “denied coverage” for abortions to young girls through the government-funded children’s health care program C.H.I.P.
She also blasted pro-life legislators for “forc[ing] one in four poor women seeking an abortion to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term” – in other words, allowing their babies to live. Yet, Johnson wants to force Americans to pay for these babies to be killed.
Pro-lifers also testified during the hearing. Gianna Jessen shared how she was born alive after a botched abortion, and Arina Grossu of the Family Research Council explained the need to pass the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act, which requires health care practitioners to provide care to babies like Jessen who survive abortions.
“Many Americans have no idea that babies can even live through abortions and are often left to die. But this does happen,” Jessen testified. “I know this because i was born alive in an abortion clinic after being burned in my mother’s womb for 18 hours. My medical records clearly state the following: Born during saline abortion/April 6, 1977/6am/2/1/2 pounds.”
