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Stop Hiding Behind Hyde
Hyde Amendment: Federal taxpayer dollars cannot be used to subsidize abortion on-demandHenry Hyde was a champion for unborn children for his entire life. On September 30, 1976, he sponsored the Hyde Amendment. This is a provision of the Annual Appropriations Bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services. This Amendment prevents the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions or plans that cover elective abortions through the Medicaid program. It expires every 30th of September. In order to maintain the Hyde Amendment as law, it must be renewed every year as part of the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services in the Annual Appropriation Bill passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. The Hyde Amendment has been renewed every year since 1976, among Democratic and Republican-controlled Congresses alike. However, renewal of the amendment could be blocked in any year in which both houses of Congress cannot agree that it should be renewed, or in any year in which the President threatens to veto or does veto the bill to prevent its renewal. The Hyde Amendment states:
The important phrase is in section 507. (a): ‘funds appropriated under this Act.' The only funds appropriated under this Act which are applicable are those funded under the Appropriations Bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. The health care bill may create major new programs, a government-run insurance plan (the "public option") and a premium subsidy program, that will not be funded by the Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill, and therefore that will not be covered by the Hyde Amendment. (A legal memo that demonstrates that is posted here.) How the Hyde doesn’t apply to the House Health Care BillHR3200 is the health care reform bill that originated in the House of Representatives. The legislation creates new streams of revenue to which the Hyde Amendment does not apply. In fact, the widely touted Capps-Waxman Amendment, which is now a part of HR3200, would explicitly authorize the public plan to pay for elective abortion and even stipulates that every single person who is on the public option has to contribute a monthly surcharge – in effect, an abortion surcharge – that will go into an account which will pay for elective abortions. The bottom line is this: in order to reimburse abortion providers who offer abortions for public plan enrollees, checks will be written from the U.S. Treasury directly to abortion clinics. In addition, HR3200 creates a program that would help tens of millions of Americans purchase health insurance. The Capps Amendment explicitly allows that these subsidies may help purchase private plans that cover elective abortions, which would be a departure from the longstanding federal policy found in the Hyde Amendment (Section 507. (b)) and other pro-life laws that govern existing federal health programs. Legally, all of the funds controlled by the public fund will be federal funds, and all of the premium subsidy funds will also be federal funds. A legal memo that demonstrates this is here.
How they are “Hyding” behind HydeSome Members of Congress and pro-abortion groups are claiming that the health care bill will follow current law on government funding of abortions. Nancy Pelosi has said about HR 3200, “the bill clearly spells out that no federal funds can be used to pay for abortions.” To the contrary, the legislation, as amended by the Capps Amendment, specifically authorizes the government-run public plan to pay for elective abortions. As the public plan collects funds from various sources those funds become public funds which in turn will pay for abortions. Pelosi also says that “the bill preserves the status quo in abortion policy.” Again this is not the case. First, the status quo is that federal government programs do not pay for abortions, yet under the Capps amendment the public plan is authorized to issue checks to abortionists to pay for abortion on demand. Second, the current policy with regard to abortion funding is that the government does not subsidize health insurance plans that includes abortion coverage as evidenced by section 507. (b). The Capps amendment breaks with the status quo and establishes an accounting mechanism by which government subsidies (affordability credits) will be allowed to fund insurance policies that cover elective abortions. So if someone tries to tell you that the Hyde Amendment applies to health care, tell them to “Stop Hyding!”What you can do1. If you have not yet expressed your opposition to government funding for elective abortions, click here to contact your elected representatives today. 2. Help inform your friends by sharing this video via email, facebook, twitter, or blogs. Click the “Share” button at the top of the page. 3. If your Senators or Representatives have sent you any response claiming that the Hyde Amendment prevents federal funding of abortion in the new legislation, please send that information to jbell [at] sba-list.org so that we can respond to their claims.
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