House Republicans Send a Message: No Spending Bill Without the Hyde Amendment

Brittany M. Hughes | January 26, 2021
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House Republicans are uniting against Democrats' efforts to repeal the Hyde amendment, a federal provision attached to spending bills that bans federal taxpayer dollars from being used to directly fund elective abortions.

According to the Washington Examiner, nearly 200 House Republicans, which amounts to nearly every GOP member, signed a pledge this week saying they will oppose any budget bill that eliminates Hyde.

"We cannot allow the Hyde Amendment and other important pro-life safeguards to be decimated by Congressional Democrats. Accordingly, we pledge to vote against any government funding bill that eliminates or weakens the Hyde Amendment or other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions," the pledge stated.

Both House and Senate Democrats have publicly stated they plan to work to eliminate Hyde while they hold control of both houses of Congress, a move which would then free up federal funding for elective abortions derived from tax dollars forcibly taken from millions of pro-life Americans. The Hyde amendment, long held as a bipartisan measure, has been in place since 1976 under both Republican and Democrat leadership in Congress and the White House.

“Despite decades of consensus on this issue, radical Democrats have signaled they no longer have an interest in protecting the conscience rights of millions of Americans who do not want their hard-earned money used to pay for abortions. My colleagues and I demand congressional leaders protect the ban on taxpayer-funded abortions and save the Hyde Amendment,” Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks said in a statement.

President Joe Biden, who once openly supported Hyde but who came under pressure from pro-abortion advocates during his campaign, has flip-flopped his position and now says he plans to work with Congress to repeal it, one of many pro-abortion measures on his agenda - though with a 50/50 split in the Senate, it's unclear whether Democrats have the votes to push such a controversial measure through.

Biden is also expected this week to roll back the Mexico City policy, which bans federal aid dollars from going to international organizations that provide or promote abortions, as well as restore Title X funding to groups like Planned Parenthood that provide or refer abortions in the U.S. President Trump had previously excluded abortion groups from the federal program via executive order.

Biden and congressional Democrats also say they plan to codify Roe v. Wade, protecting "abortion rights" under federal law in the event the aged and dubious 1973 SCOUTS decision is ever overturned by the new Supreme Court.

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