On Wednesday, the federal Hyde Amendment turns 50 years old. First passed on Sept. 30, 1976, the Hyde Amendment is a provision of the annual appropriations bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services. It largely prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions through the Medicaid program. The passage of the Hyde Amendment was a great legislative, legal, and policy victory for the nascent pro-life movement. Furthermore, pro-lifers would do well to remember Hyde’s lifesaving legacy — as the issue of taxpayer-funded abortion has become increasingly salient in recent years.
The passage of the first Hyde Amendment in 1976 was an important pro-life political victory. Prior to Roe v. Wade, political battles over abortion were largely fought at the state level. At the national level, pro-lifers did not have a natural home in either of the two major political parties. However, an early stand-alone vote on the Hyde Amendment in June of 1976 received 207 votes, 113 of which came from House Democrats. In the end, 312 members of Congress voted to override President Gerald Ford’s veto and approve the appropriations bill that included the original Hyde Amendment. This showed the pro-life movement had bipartisan support and the ability to get legislation through Congress.
Additionally, Hyde was an important legal victory for the pro-life movement. During the 1970s, the Supreme Court was very sympathetic to legal abortion. On multiple occasions, the U.S. Supreme Court even struck down state-level pro-life parental involvement laws.
Not surprisingly, the Hyde Amendment quickly faced legal challenges. In October 1976, a federal district court issued an injunction preventing the Hyde Amendment from taking effect. Litigation continued throughout the decade. However, in Harris v. McRae (1980), the Supreme Court upheld the Hyde Amendment by a single vote. This showed that pro-lifers could successfully defend incremental pro-life laws and achieve real victories in front of the highest court in the land.
Finally, the Hyde Amendment was an important public policy victory for the pro-life movement. There is a substantial body of political science, economics, and public health research that shows that limits on taxpayer funding of abortion reduce abortion rates and save lives. Even the Guttmacher Institute, which strongly supports legal abortion, acknowledges that in the absence of public funding for abortion, women on Medicaid are more likely to carry unintended pregnancies to term. Overall, my recent Charlotte Lozier Institute policy analysis shows that the Hyde Amendment has saved 2,678,274 lives since 1976.
Anecdotes about the lifesaving impact of the Hyde Amendment are even more powerful. An analysis of Medicaid birth data shows that 1 in 9 people born to a mother receiving Medicaid owes their lives to the Hyde Amendment. One of these women is Deanna Wallace. When Deanna’s birth mother found out she was pregnant, she was already a single teenage mother to three children under the age of 5. Having a fourth child under these circumstances was far from ideal.
However, instead of paying for an abortion, the state Medicaid program paid for prenatal care, Deanna’s birth, and infant care. Deanna went on to graduate from Louisiana State University Law School and even spent time working for the Louisiana Attorney General’s office.
Since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, many pro-lifers have focused on passing strong pro-life laws in conservative states. The rise of abortion drugs has also become a major concern, as mail-order abortions have weakened many of the strong pro-life laws that have been enacted in recent years. At the same time, the issue of taxpayer-funded abortion will become increasingly important because the Democratic Party’s leftward shift on sanctity of life issues threatens the Hyde Amendment and other limits on publicly funded abortions.
Indeed, at one point, many Democratic elected officials supported the Hyde Amendment. Seven of the eight budgets submitted by President Bill Clinton included the Hyde Amendment, as did every federal budget submitted by President Barack Obama. That has changed in recent years. None of President Joe Biden’s budgets included the Hyde Amendment. Furthermore, since 2018, seven left-leaning states have started to use their own taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortions through their respective state Medicaid programs.
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Today, most Democratic elected officials support taxpayer funding of abortion. As such, if Democrats gain power in Washington, there is almost certainly going to be a real political battle over the Hyde Amendment.
Defending the impressive, lifesaving legacy of the Hyde Amendment needs to be a top priority for the pro-life movement.
Michael J. New (@Michael_J_New) is an assistant professor of practice at the Catholic University of America and a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
