Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Returns? ACLJ Takes Major Action

The Hyde Amendment – which has protected U.S. tax dollars from directly funding abortion – is on the brink of ending after more than 40 years of being federal law. Soon, the U.S. House and Senate will consider a $3.5 trillion dollar spending bill, which could potentially remove the Hyde Amendment. That is why we took action.

I just signed on to a coalition letter that has been released to the public advocating for various groups across the country to demand reinstatement of the Hyde Amendment and to oppose any spending bill that removes the Amendment and or its provisions. Americans should not be forced to fund abortions when they deeply disagree with the practice.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett discusses the history of the Hyde Amendment as a bipartisan issue in his new article and further added:

This is something that the American people want. They do not want their taxpayer dollars to go towards abortion. Even about 1/3 of pro-choice Americans do not want taxpayer dollars to be used for abortions. And that is why for almost 50 years this has been a part of federal law. The next couple of weeks are going to be really critical. That’s why this letter was sent today. . . . There is going to be a two-pronged approach in the U.S. Congress to repeal what is known as the Hyde Amendment. . . . In summary, those two parts – number one will be the irregular appropriations process . . . government funding runs out at the end of this month. So, Congress has to determine how to fund next year’s budget. . . . The House of Representatives have already laid down language. They already want the Hyde Amendment removed. The United States Senate is going to have to stop that. The second phase of this . . . is going to be in the reconciliation process. That’s a 3.5 trillion-dollar bill. They want to fund abortions in that bill. Fortunately, when the U.S. Senate passed their underlying budget there was an Amendment passed by Senator Lankford. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, voted in favor of it, and it passed by a single vote that does reinstate the Hyde Amendment. But all of that to say is that there will be a lot of bites at this apple in the upcoming weeks. That’s why this letter came out today in defense of protecting taxpayers from having to fund abortion.

Another issue that should be bipartisan is getting Americans back home safely after President Biden abandoned them in Afghanistan. While we have seen the chaos unfold, there were so many missteps along the way. Next week, Members of Congress will have the opportunity to find out the truth as they start to question the Biden Administration, beginning with Secretary Antony Blinken on the total mismanagement of withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan. 

ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy Ric Grenell gave his take on what needs to take place in next week’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in his new article and adds how important it is to hold these leaders accountable:

I hope that all of our listeners check this piece out. . . . Because what I try to do is bring up the questions that Secretary Blinken needs to be asked. Now, we don’t know if he will. But we hope he will be asked these tough questions. I still want to focus in on the fact that the State Department, which is in charge of protecting Americans overseas, left 10 percent of the Americans in Afghanistan. This is the new Biden doctrine which is, 10 percent are going to be left behind. . . . And I hope that we have Democrats and Republicans really pushing the Secretary on these problems.

The danger of the situation in Afghanistan is only getting worse. The Taliban – who have completely taken over Afghanistan – have announced who will be in their cabinet as they establish a new “government.” Of course, the lineup is essentially a rogues gallery of some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists.

ACLJ Chief Counsel and my dad Jay Sekulow commented on the makeup of the Taliban cabinet:

This is the whole fallacy of the Biden failure – look who’s in charge. The people we had in Gitmo, number one. And number two, how would you like to be the people trying to get out right now? Including the Americans and also the SIV [Special Immigrant Visa] holders knowing that the borders in your control of access in and out of the country are controlled by the harshest leaders in the Taliban, the worst of the worst. And we should not act like we are surprised that this is the case. . . . You look at that list and you say to yourself, what in the world are they thinking?

While we are engaging in these large-scale problems through advocacy, we are also working at the Supreme Court. ACLJ Senior Counsel Walter Weber joined Sekulow to discuss a school choice case in Maine we just filed an amicus brief in at the Supreme Court and why we are still fighting for school choice around the country:

There seems to be resistance at the lower courts. . . . Keep in mind that the Supreme Court, for a number of years . . . was very strict about saying that you can’t have any government funds going to the teaching of religion. The Supreme Court since then clarified that school choice was fine and in some instances it was a constitutional right. . . . So, there is lingering tension between this idea that you have to keep all federal or state money away from religious schools versus staying in a school choice program. As long as you treat everyone equally, that’s fine.

At the ACLJ, we are fighting to preserve the Hyde Amendment, working to hold the Biden Administration accountable for their actions concerning Afghanistan, and battling in court for a school choice case in Maine. The scope of our work is never ending, and we continue to fight the big and small battles around the world.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of our work concerning the Hyde Amendment, Afghanistan, and school choice around the country.

Watch the full broadcast below.