Pro-life Democrats rallied on Capitol Hill on Sunday to protest other Democrats’ threats to ditch the Hyde Amendment which bans the use of tax dollars to fund overseas abortion.
Democrats for Life of America hosted a “Save Hyde National Day of Action.” The flagship rally took place in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, with the U.S. Capitol Building in the background. Satellite events took place in 21 different locations nationwide.
The day of action came one month after President Joe Biden signed into law a coronavirus relief package that did not have Hyde Amendment protections guaranteeing that federal tax dollars can’t be used to pay for abortions in most cases. Other similar events have been taking place across the nation from San Francisco to South Carolina.
READ: Democrats plan to ditch Hyde Amendment
“If Democrats keep going down this road, where they want to fund abortion and ignore the needs of women, it’s going to be a tough 2022 for Democrats,” Executive Director Kristen Day said.
The Hyde Amendment has existed in some form since 1976, three years after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. Every year, the amendment has been affirmed by Congress as part of a Department of Health and Human Services appropriations bill. The most recent version of the measure included exceptions for Medicaid funds to fund abortions in the case of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
1. The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from paying for abortion. 2. The Hyde Amendment was first enacted by Congress in 1976 and has been passed each year since then with bipartisan support. 3. Most Americans oppose their tax dollars paying for abortion. 4. Publicly funded abortions were happening in the 1970s at a high rate. Since the passage of the Hyde Amendment, the abortion rate has dropped significantly. 5. Since its enactment, an estimated 2.13 million lives have been saved due to the Hyde Amendment.
Both before and after the 2020 presidential election, top congressional Democrats vowed to do away with the Hyde Amendment. Polling has shown that restrictions on tax dollars being used to fund abortions enjoy wide support among the American public.
Speakers discussed the Hyde Amendment’s popularity, called on attendees to put pressure on their elected representatives to preserve Hyde and stressed the need to make the pro-life movement more bipartisan
Terrisa Bukovinac executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco, another group of pro-life Democrats, made her position clear.
“The Biden administration is the most extreme, most radical pro-abortion administration in the history of our nation,” she said. “Repealing the Hyde Amendment and forcing the taxpayer funding of abortions would increase abortion dramatically in this country at all gestational ages, and that’s absolutely terrifying.”
She also stated that “The Hyde Amendment is one of the most effective resources we have as Americans to limit the number of abortions that are occurring in our nation.”
When President Biden last month signed a $2 trillion COVID relief bill, it did not include Hyde Amendment language, enabling pro-abortion influence to seep through the bill. Now, pro-life Democrats and advocates are alarmed that billions of dollars in health care spending will be funneled into abortion providers and coverage.
These include pro-life Evangelicals who felt like they were tricked into giving their support for Biden.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
