ACLJ Joins Pro-Life Letter to Congress Demanding Hyde Amendment That Prevents Taxpayer-Funded Abortions and Saves Lives Be Included in ALL Spending Bills

The American people, while deeply divided on the underlying issue of abortion, do not want to pay for abortions with their tax dollars. This has long been true, and it represents one of the few unifying issues for Republican, Democrat, and Independent voters. Even so, it seems the political leadership in Washington, D.C., is determined to use taxpayer dollars for abortion, anyway.

As we told you previously, President Biden and the U.S. House of Representatives have already acted to undermine this consensus position among American citizens. They have done so by threatening the continuation of the long-standing policies of the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment has been in force for nearly half a century, and it serves as a ban on using tax dollars allocated within the Labor-HHS Appropriations Act from funding abortions in the U.S. Most notably, this prohibition applies to reimbursements for abortions issued under Medicaid, which is by far the biggest source of potential federal funding for abortions. However, as the size and scope of the federal government continues to grow, Congress has found it necessary to pass similar prohibitions within other federal spending bills. Taken together, these provisions are known as the Hyde family of amendments.

Tragically, President Biden has now called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, and the U.S. House has followed his lead by approving bills that strike these commonsense and unifying protections. Additionally, both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House will soon consider a $3.5 trillion spending bill under rules governed by the budget reconciliation process. This will be yet another place for debate about Hyde protections. Fortunately, during consideration of the underlying budget resolution, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment authored by Sen. James Lankford (OK) to apply the Hyde Amendment to the resolution. Inclusion of the Lankford Amendment was achieved by a vote of 50-49, thanks in part to the support of Democrat Sen. Joe. Manchin (WV).

Because the fate of these critical protections hangs in the balance, ACLJ Executive Director Jordan Sekulow has just signed a coalition letter calling on every Member of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House to oppose any spending bill that removes any of the long-standing Hyde family of provisions. It simply defies common sense that American taxpayers would be forced to fund something they find so objectionable. It becomes downright insulting to force this funding when there is such broad, bipartisan opposition to it.

We will keep you posted as the issue develops. In the meantime, please lend your voice to this important cause by signing our petition to stop tax dollars from being used for abortions.