House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are moving forward with plans to end the Hyde Amendment and force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in elective abortions.
The decades-old amendment prohibits federal tax dollars from being used for abortions in Medicaid. Since the late 1970s, the Hyde Amendment has had strong bipartisan support from Congress and the American people. Pro-life leaders estimate it has saved about 2.4 million babies’ lives.
Four years ago, however, Democrat Party leaders abandoned Americans’ priorities in favor of those of the abortion industry and adopted a platform calling for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand. Now, it is one of their goals.
On Tuesday, a House Appropriations subcommittee has a hearing scheduled to discuss ending the long-standing amendment. Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts is leading the pro-abortion effort.
The Family Research Council warned Americans about the House leaders’ plan Monday. It pointed to polls that consistently show strong public support for the Hyde Amendment, including many Democrat voters.
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“Since 1976, Americans have agreed on this and have passed the Hyde Amendment … with bipartisan support,” said Mary Szoch, director of the center for life and human dignity at the Family Research Council. “Abortion ends the life of a distinct human being. American taxpayers opposed to this practice should not be required to pay for this atrocity. A culture of life demands nothing less.”
Szoch said even many pro-choice Americans agree that “forcing taxpayers to fund a practice that they believe is inherently evil is wrong.”
The Hyde Amendment first passed Congress in 1976 and has been added to spending bills every year since then. Prior to Hyde, American taxpayers paid for about 300,000 abortions through Medicaid annually, according to a new report from FRC.
However, “the historic bipartisan support ended in 2016 when the Democratic National Committee decided to include the Hyde Amendments’ repeal as a policy priority in its platform …” according to FRC.
Polls consistently show that most Americans do not support the change. A 2020 Marist poll found 60 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer-funded abortions, including 35 percent of Democrats.
Even more significantly, a 2016 Harvard/Politico poll found that voters who make more than $75,000 were more supportive of forcing taxpayers to fund abortions (45 percent in favor), while those who make $25,000 or less were strongly against it (24 percent in favor). In other words, the people most likely to qualify for a Medicaid-covered, taxpayer-funded abortion are the ones who oppose the Democratic Party’s new pro-abortion agenda the most.
If Democrats succeed in ending the amendment, unborn babies’ abortion deaths almost certainly will increase across the U.S. Research by Charlotte Lozier Institute associate scholar Dr. Michael New estimates the Hyde Amendment has saved about 2.4 million babies from abortions, including about 60,000 annually.
“Despite having the narrowest House majority since the 1800s, there have been direct calls from Democrat leaders in Congress to remove the Hyde Amendment and Mexico City Policy, which prevent taxpayer dollars from funding abortion at home and abroad,” FRC Legislative Assistant Connor Semelsberger said.
Semelsberger urged lawmakers to represent the interests of the American people and pass the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would protecting taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortions.
Democrats still have a majority in the U.S. House, and Joe Biden, should he be confirmed as the presidential winner, supports ending the Hyde Amendment, too. Pro-life leaders are focusing on the U.S. Senate where its narrow Republican majority is in jeopardy and, with it, Republicans’ ability to stop radical pro-abortion legislation – such as taxpayer-funded abortions – from becoming law.
