New Government Budget Will Eliminate Hyde Amendment, Forcing Americans to Pay for Abortions

A newly proposed budget will force all Americans to pay for abortions, by eliminating the decades-long Hyde Amendment. This change is both unprecedented, as the amendment has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades, and incredibly disappointing for pro-life supporters.

President Joe Biden has presented his new government budget, which will cost taxpayers approximately $6 trillion, and includes updates to infrastructure and education, tax hikes on the wealthy and the most substantial increase in government spending powers since World War II.

Most concerningly, the proposed budget does not include the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayers from funding abortions except for a couple of specific circumstances, like in cases of rape, incest or if the mother’s life is in danger.

This is a complete reversal for President Biden, who had previously been a supporter of the amendment since his first term in the Senate in 1973. But by 2019, he had reversed course.

“If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code,” Biden said.

Pro-life groups are deeply concerned about the budget and what it could mean to young women and families across the country.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said, “Removing the Hyde Amendment is not only wildly unpopular with voters, it fails to address the problems that Americans face. We need to address the suffering, not end the lives of people who some imagine might suffer.”

“BREAKING: The Biden administration has proposed a budget today that forces taxpayers to directly fund abortions,” Lila Rose tweeted. “Abortion is the leading cause of death in America. This is a horrific injustice.”

“Here’s the bad news: President Biden removed the Hyde Amendment. Here’ the good news: IT’S NOT OVER YET. DFLA will be doing everything we can in the next few months to demand from Congress that Hyde is included in the budget,” Democrats for Life posted.

Pro-abortion groups are celebrating this change.

Planned Parenthood Action tweeted, “Yes! Biden’s budget proposes to end the racist, harmful Hyde Amendment. Grateful to see the admin take this step and a huge shout-out to the women of color leaders who are leading this fight!”

NARAL, an aggressive pro-abortion lobbying group, wrote, “Today’s presidential budget is the latest example of the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to advancing reproductive freedom, and it send a clear message that reproductive freedom is central to the pursuit of equity and justice.”

“We are thrilled that President Biden kept his campaign promise and submitted a budget without the Hyde amendment,” said Destiny Lopez, the co-president of the pro-abortion group All* Above All, told The Guardian. “The Hyde amendment has, for more than 40 years, denied insurance coverage of abortion for people working to make ends meet and today will mark the first time in literal decades that our president has submitted a budget without the Hyde amendment.”

Despite what pro-abortion activists claim, the Hyde Amendment is not a racist policy. It simply prevents the government from forcing pro-life Americans to pay for abortions. The idea that somehow women of color are disproportionally impacted by the Hyde Amendment is simply because the abortion industry itself specifically sets up shop in minority neighborhoods and, as a result, women within these communities are much more likely to have an abortion.

The abortion industry does not recognize this irony. Sadly, this disturbing trend will only continue to grow if this new budget proposal passes.

Eliminating the Hyde Amendment not only compromises the conscience objections of Americans, but also will empower the abortion industry and give it undue influence on young women across the country.

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