Joe Biden made it official today. As a candidate for president he promised the most radical pro-abortion groups in America that he would scrap the Hyde Amendment and force Americas to fund killing babies in abortions with their tax dollars.
Today Biden made that promise a reality by proposing a federal budget without the Hyde Amendment for the first time since the late 1970s when it was adopted. The Hyde Amendment has saved at least 2.5 million babies from abortion and it enjoys the support of a majority of Americans — including people who support abortion.
However, if Congress approves his budget, thousands of babies will be killed in abortions nationwide and they will be paid for with taxpayer funds.
In comments to LifeNews.com, the head of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List condemned Biden, who continues to claim he’s a “faithful” Catholic.
Marjorie Dannenfelser told LifeNews.com: “For more than four decades, the Hyde family of pro-life policies has kept American taxpayers out of the abortion business, with the Hyde Amendment itself saving nearly 2.5 million lives. The Biden budget throws that longstanding, bipartisan consensus out the window to fulfill a campaign promise to the radical abortion lobby. Once a supporter of policies that protect the lives of the unborn and their mothers, President Biden today caters to the most extreme voices within his party. The majority of Americans remain opposed to taxpayer-funded abortion. We urge our congressional allies to be fearless in fighting to preserve the common-ground Hyde principle and to reject any budget that omits vital pro-life protections.”
Officials with National Right to Life told LifeNews that eliminating the Hyde Amendment destroys over 40 years of previously unprecedented bipartisan support for a measure aimed at saving human lives.
Tobias continued, “This budget proposal is a scorched earth campaign by pro-abortion Democrats who are marching hand in hand with the most extreme demands of the abortion industry to eliminate all limitations on abortion as well as require taxpayer funding of abortion.”
“The Hyde Amendment has proven to be the greatest domestic abortion-reduction measure ever enacted by Congress,” said Jennifer Popik, J.D., legislative director of National Right to Life. “The Hyde Amendment is widely recognized as having saved over two million American lives since it was first adopted in 1976.”
Popik continued, “The Hyde Amendment’s life-affirming impact cannot be overstated.”
Polling repeatedly shows Americans support the Hyde Amendment.
A 2019 Politico/Morning Consult poll found that 49% supported the Hyde Amendment while only 33% opposed it. In 2020, a Marist poll found that those opposed to federal funding of abortions held firm with 60% of Americans opposed. In a 2021 Marist poll conducted in January, those who “oppose using tax dollars to pay for a woman’s abortion”—58% —is solid and consistent with prior polling. What is noticeable is that 65% of Independents and even 31% of Democrats oppose federal funding of abortion.
Biden’s budget completely removes the Hyde Amendment that protects Americans from being forced to pay for abortions
Source: FY22 Budget: Appendix, Page 807: https://t.co/34dO3ndNv6 pic.twitter.com/JiQOVdiFtr
— Susan B. Anthony List #HydeSavesLives (@SBAList) May 28, 2021
In anticipation of Hyde’s repeal, Students for Life of America argued that Biden was prioritizing ending minority lives.
“More than 2 million children, many from minority families, have been saved as Hyde Amendment protections have limited taxpayer funded abortion,” said Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins.
“This is not only wildly unpopular with voters, it fails to address the problems that Americans face. We need to address the suffering, not end the lives of people who some imagine might suffer.”
Recent polling shows 77% of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to promote abortion overseas, and 58% oppose using taxpayer money to fund abortions in the United States.
Yesterday more than 60 pro-life leaders sent a letter to congressional leadership urging them to fight for the Hyde Amendment and other similar longstanding pro-life riders during the appropriations process.
