The U.S. House passed a massive $2 trillion spending bill Friday that will force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions.
Republican leaders temporarily delayed a vote on the legislation Thursday, but Democrats, who control the House, pushed forward Friday morning, passing the bill in a 220-213 vote, the BBC reports. Only one Democrat joined Republicans in voting against it.
Nicknamed the “Build Back Better” Act, a project of President Joe Biden, the bill would force taxpayers to pay for abortions, including elective late-term abortions, Republican leaders warned.
According to the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, the legislation even would fund abortions with taxpayer dollars in pro-life states that have opted out of abortion funding in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
“Pelosi and her allies are sneakily working to force Americans to be complicit in abortion on demand up to birth every which way they can,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life organization. “She even touted the fact that the popular bipartisan Hyde and Helms amendments, which stop taxpayer funding of abortion both at home and overseas, are simply ‘not in the bill.’”
The Hyde Amendment prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs, and the Helms Amendment prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions in other countries. The Hyde Amendment alone has been credited with saving about 2.5 million babies’ lives.
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During a press conference Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed that the $2 trillion bill will force taxpayers to fund abortions. When a reporter asked Pelosi if the Hyde Amendment is in the bill, she replied: “It’s not in the bill. It’s not in the bill.”
For decades, most Republican and Democrat lawmakers supported the Hyde Amendment as a regular part of the budget and other spending bills. However, Democrats recently abandoned the public on the issue and sided with the billion-dollar abortion industry in calling for forced taxpayer-funded abortions.
Pro-life leaders now are urging the U.S. Senate to restore amendments to the bill to protect American taxpayers and unborn babies.
The Senate is evenly divided along party lines, and one Democrat, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, has said he will not support any bill that forces taxpayers to pay for abortions. However, the spending bill only needs 50 votes to pass.
On Thursday, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy slammed the bill for forcing taxpayers to fund abortions in a record-long speech that delayed a vote on the bill.
“This Socialist Spending Scam abandons the longstanding, bipartisan Hyde Amendment, allowing for taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand and violating the rights of conscience of millions of Americans,” McCarthy said. “That alone is reason enough to defeat the bill.”
The Democrats’ bill mandates abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and it allows taxpayer funding for abortions under multiple spending projects, including $30 billion for states to create reinsurance programs for health insurance issuers and $10 billion in public health funding grants.
“This so-called Build Back Better Act is shattering status quo principles that Americans should not pay for the destruction of unborn human life,” the Susan B. Anthony List responded after the vote. “Pro-abortion legislators are funding existing programs and creating new ones outside of the traditional appropriations process, thereby intentionally removing the limitations on funding for abortion. Healthcare should promote life, not aid in its brutal destruction.”
Since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has saved an estimated 2.5 million babies’ lives, including about 60,000 each year, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Prior to the amendment, in the 1970s, Americans paid for about 300,000 unborn babies’ abortion deaths each year, according to a report from the Family Research Council.
Polls consistently show strong public support for the Hyde Amendment. In January, a Marist poll found 58 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S. Additionally, 77 percent oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in other countries. A Harvard/Politico poll also found strong public opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions, especially among low-income Americans.
