Just three years after the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade decision, freshman Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois observed a problem: American taxpayers were being forced to pay for abortions through federally funded healthcare plans like Medicaid. More than that, he knew that whatever the government pays for, it encourages.
To put an end to taxpayer funding of abortions, Hyde crafted and introduced what is now known as the Hyde Amendment, an annual amendment attached to government funding bills barring any Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education programs from paying for abortions. On September 30, 1976, the Hyde Amendment became law for the first time. Every year since, despite attempts from the Left to remove it, it has remained a staple addition in federal funding bills.
Half a century later, the Hyde Amendment’s impact is undeniable. The Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates that the amendment itself has saved 2,678,274 babies from the violence of abortion between 1976 and 2026. Additionally, the Hyde Amendment is popular with Americans. Sixty percent of all Americans—not just Republicans—oppose forced taxpayer funding of abortions.
Common-sense Hyde protections extend beyond the annual L-HHS funding bill as well. The “Hyde family” of amendments includes the Helms Amendment, banning abortion coverage in international aid; the Dornan Amendment, banning abortion coverage by the Washington, D.C., local government; and the Smith Amendment, banning abortion under federal employee healthcare programs.
Because of the Hyde Amendment, 2.6 million people are alive today. That is a cause for celebration—but not complacency. As the pro-abortion left grows increasingly radical, the Hyde Amendment faces attacks.
The most significant attack came in 2010. By then, the Hyde Amendment was a settled, bipartisan appropriations fixture—but Hyde protections were stripped from the landmark Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) before its passage. In the fifteen years following the inauguration of Obamacare, the program has funneled hard-earned American taxpayer dollars to the abortion industry through Obamacare-covered healthcare plans.
President Biden worsened taxpayer entanglement with the abortion industry during the COVID pandemic—under the guise of pandemic relief, the Biden Administration awarded Obamacare users with enhanced premium subsidies.
The Government Accountability Office reported in September 2026 that a quarter of Obamacare qualified health plans cover abortions with taxpayer dollars with 4.4 million Americans enrolled in those plans that cover abortions. In a statement following the report, Congressman Chris Smith (R-New Jersey 4th), Chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, said, “As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment on September 30th—which is estimated to have saved the lives of over 2.6 million children (about 60,000 lives per year)—we renew the call to enforce this critical, lifesaving protection within the ACA without further delay. Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize plans that cover the elective killing of an unborn child by dismemberment or baby poison pills.”
In December 2025, Congressional Democrats proposed the opposite of Rep. Smith’s calls for ending forced taxpayer funding of abortions: a three-year extension of Biden’s Obamacare subsidies. The text, like the 2010 Affordable Care Act, excluded Hyde protections. Concerned Women for America LAC (CWALAC) issued a score letter against the proposal, writing to members of Congress that three more years of status quo ACA credits would “violate the conscience of the American people, forcing taxpayers to cover procedures that many, including our members at CWALAC, find egregious and unacceptable.” The effort was ultimately defeated in the Senate, but seventeen Congressional Republicans joined Democrats in passing the bill in the House.
As we celebrate fifty years of the Hyde Amendment and the 2,678,274 lives it has saved from the violence of abortion, please join CWALAC in praying that Members of Congress would hold the line on the Hyde Amendment, defend the conscience rights of hard-workings American taxpayers, and maintain a deeply held commitment to the sanctity of unborn life for fifty years to come.
