Save the "Hyde Amendment"!

Often overlooked in the current political scene is the attempts to eliminate the “Hyde” amendment (September 30, 1976).  This was a Bi-partisan act that passed with a vote of 312-93.  According to Human Life International; "One of the most important facts about the Hyde Amendment is that it has been passed every year regardless of who was in power – Democrats or Republicans. That is, it has been a truly bipartisan amendment. While there have always been some extremist pro-abortion Democrats who have wanted to get rid of the amendment, there has always been enough consensus to ensure that spending bills were protected by it. . . until now".

In part, the Hyde Amendment, which has evolved somewhat over the years, reads, in part;

“Sec. 506. (a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion.

(b) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion.

Sec. 507. (a) The limitations established in the preceding section shall not apply to an abortion—

(1) if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest; or

(2) in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.

Ironically, according to Human Life International,  the two most prominent figures pushing for the end to the Hyde Amendment are also the two politicians who most conspicuously tout their alleged “devout” Catholic faith – President Joe Biden, who previously supported the amendment. and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

In response to this attack on the unborn, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee for Religious Liberty, and Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities, issued a statement strongly decrying the effort to scrap the amendment.

“The House has voted in a way that is completely out of step with the will of the American people who overwhelmingly oppose taxpayer-funded abortion,” they noted. “The Hyde Amendment has saved at least 2.4 million lives since its enactment. Without it, millions of poor women in desperate circumstances will make the irrevocable decision to take the government up on its offer to end the life of their child.”

Through all the political rhetoric, three main reasons emerge to end the attempt to scrap this amendment. First, as ABC News reported, President Biden, in his presidential run, stated that; "For many years as a U.S. senator, I have supported the Hyde amendment as many, many others have because there was sufficient monies and circumstances where women were able to exercise that right, women of color, poor women, women were not able to have access, and it was not under attack … as it is now. But circumstances have changed."  The reversal needs to be better explained.  Second, by funding abortions with taxpayer monies, it would be forcing tacit support, by the use of monies, of those who may be against abortions.  Third, it ignores the separation of types of abortions; direct, or elective, and indirect, those with medical justification.  Indirect abortions that have been viewed as, sadly, permissible by the Church Pope Pius VII, 1951) and is acknowledged by this amendment. 

Therefore, it is up to us, the electorate to contact of Representatives and Senators and demand they protect this amendment.  Otherwise, the innocent lives of the unborn will be reduced to a political talking point.