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Hyde Amendment

The Assault on Hyde and Family: FY 2022 House Appropriations Update

By | Hyde Amendment, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Last week, the Democrat House Majority rammed through a federal budget stripped of all longstanding pro-life protections, including the Hyde Amendment. This tone-deaf political ploy effectively wrote a blank check to the abortion industry at home and abroad, leaving American taxpayers with the tab. Since the poisonous package is likely unpalatable in the Senate, the upper chamber is left to its own devices to avert a fiscal cliff and government shutdown.

H.R. 4502, a seven-bill package for FY 2022 appropriations, included the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations (LHHS) Act and Financial Services and General Government Appropriations (FSGG) Act. LHHS blatantly excluded Hyde, a prohibition on taxpayer funding of elective abortion through Medicaid and Medicare disability, and the Weldon Amendment, a conscience protection prohibiting government discrimination against healthcare entities that refuse to provide or pay for abortions. To justify the Democrats’ position, House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) condemned the last 45 years of bipartisan agreement to include Hyde as “a mistake.” FSGG repealed other members of the family of protections:  the Dornan Amendment, a ban on the use of local and federal funds for abortion services in Washington, D.C., and the Smith Amendment, a ban on funding for elective abortions through the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program.

During House floor debate, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) offered a motion to recommit (MTR) H.R. 4502 that would have restored the Hyde, Weldon, Dornan, and Smith Amendments—all of which were removed from the underlying bill in committee. The measure failed by a vote of 208-217. You may view the MTR roll call here to see if your member stood strong for life. H.R. 4502 eventually passed the House on a party-line vote of 219-208. Learn how your representative voted here. CWALAC scored votes against the package.

H.R. 4373, the FY 2022 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, aimed to make abortion our nation’s top export overseas. The bill eliminated the Helms Amendment, a ban on international aid from funding abortion as a family planning method. The legislation also weakened application of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, a prohibition of federal funding to organizations or programs that, as determined by the President, support or participate in a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. Furthermore, CWALAC opposed drastic increases in funding for the United Nation’s Population Fund, a known supporter of China’s forced abortion and sterilization regime, and International Family Planning, a slush fund for Planned Parenthood after recission of the Mexico City Policy. H.R. 4373 passed the House by a vote of 217-212, with four Democrats joining Republicans against. You may view the roll call here. CWALAC scored against the bill and in favor of two amendments to eliminate new pro-abortion funding, both of which failed.

Now, we turn to the Senate to preserve decades of bipartisan consensus to protect the sanctity of life and Americans’ right not to fund its destruction. We must remind members that they have been sent to Congress to represent their constituents and not the abortion lobby. Visit our Action Center here. CWALAC will continue to advocate for the most vulnerable among us and work tirelessly to prevent the passage of legislation that uses taxpayer dollars to finance the abortion industry and destroy innocent human life.

Baby in womb

CEO Penny Nance Implores Legislators to Protect Life

By | Hyde Amendment, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

FOX News highlights a letter spearheaded by conservative leaders to encourage legislators to block federal funding of abortion. In the letter, Concerned Women for America CEO and President Penny Nance and other conservatives leaders call on lawmakers to defend life at all stages. Currently, pro-choice advocates seek to remove Hyde, which would allow our taxpayer money to fund abortions.

Over 100 prominent leaders signed the letter, but the next few weeks will be an uphill battle since Democrats maintain the majority in the House and Senate.

Click here to read more.

No Hiding from the Hyde Amendment

By | Hyde Amendment, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Appropriations season is upon us. As President Biden unveils his $6 trillion Fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal to Congress, it is time again to protect longstanding prohibitions on the use of federal funds for elective abortions. We currently face an unprecedented threat to the time-honored safeguards of the Hyde Amendment and related provisions.

The Hyde Amendment was introduced in 1976 to stop the flow of federal taxpayer dollars for abortion following the Roe v. Wade decision. Every annual spending bill over the last four decades has included this provision, defending the conscience rights of a strong majority of Americans who would otherwise be forced to pay for the destruction of human life. Additional Hyde-like pro-life amendments have since emerged to apply these critical restrictions to other relevant federal programs, both domestic and international.

Abortion giant Planned Parenthood and its industry allies have tightened their grip on the highest echelons of government power to finance their cause. Yet most Americans agree that the abortion industry should not receive federal funds and that preborn life deserves protection. A recent Marist poll found that 76% of Americans support restrictions on abortions after the first trimester, at the very least. Funding for overseas abortion is opposed by 77% of Americans and even 64% of pro-choice voters. Further, 58% of Americans support the original Hyde Amendment.

Unfortunately, President Biden has abandoned his previous position and promise to defend Hyde, a troubling sign that he is beholden to radical leftist interests rather than the will of the American people. Many in the Democrat majority in Congress have pledged to repeal these life-saving measures, raising the stakes even higher for the battle ahead. If they cannot get their way on Hyde, some have even proposed grant programs to directly fund Planned Parenthood clinics.

In anticipation of the Biden budget request, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee joined dozens of others in the pro-life community in a letter to House and Senate leadership urging them to guarantee inclusion of the Hyde Amendment and related provisions in FY 2022 appropriations. Nearly 2.5 million precious lives have been preserved since Hyde’s inception. We cannot sit idly by while this Administration seeks to open to floodgates and send our hard-earned tax dollars to those preying on the most vulnerable among us. As appropriations season commences, we must hold Congress accountable for holding the line on Hyde.

OMB Nominee’s Warped Abortion Views Outside the Mainstream

By | Hyde Amendment, News and Events, Press Releases | No Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2021

Contact:
Natalie Panettiere
202-266-4816, [email protected]

OMB Nominee’s Warped Abortion Views Outside the Mainstream

Washington, D.C.— Shalanda Young, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), supports eliminating the historically bipartisan Hyde Amendment protections as “a matter of economic and racial justice.”

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC), had this to say:

“At a time in our history where there are areas in our country where more African American babies are aborted than born, it is unconscionable such a radical view of abortion is being promoted at the highest levels of our government.

“The Hyde Amendment has been historically a place of common ground by both pro-choice and pro-life Americans. President Joe Biden himself agreed with it. It simply says we should not be using Americans’ taxpayer money to pay for abortions. The overwhelming majority of Americans agree with this commonsense provision.

“As if the Biden Administration’s betrayal of American’s trust in this area were not enough, for this nominee to hide behind the ‘racial justice’ label to justify forcing Americans to pay for elective abortions through taxpayer dollars is Orwellian, given the abortion industry’s sordid history with eugenics and the targeting of minorities.

“Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently traced abortion’s racist history on his opinion in Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. It should be required reading for all Americans.

“The true fight for racial justice is a fight against Big Abortion’s targeting of minorities, not fighting to increase abortionists’ profits through taxpayer dollars.

“Shalanda Young should be soundly rejected for these radical comments by senators from both sides of the aisle.”

###

Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) is the legislation and advocacy arm of Concerned Women for America. Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with a rich 40-year history of helping our members across the country bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy.

Baby in womb

Action Needed! Hyde Amendment at Stake

By | Hyde Amendment, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

If you oppose the federal government using taxes from workers’ paychecks to fund the destruction of babies in the womb through abortion, call your member of Congress at 202-225-3121 and urge them to vote NO. Read why below.

Senate Democrats Repeal Hyde Amendment in Massive New Spending Cloaked as “COVID Relief”  

As part of the massive, partisan $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending bill passed on Saturday, every Senate Democrat voted to scrap over 40 years of bipartisan consensus to prevent the federal government from using your tax dollars from paying for the brutal destruction of babies through abortion. This is unconscionable. Any American who knows babies in the womb deserves the chance to live needs to stand against this atrocity.

A strong majority of Americans, including many who identify as “pro-choice,” support the Hyde Amendment (for domestic programs) and the Helms Amendment (for international programs), which prohibit federal tax dollars from American workers’ paychecks being used to kill innocent pre-born children at home and abroad.

President Joe Biden and his radical Democrat party are promoting a culture of death in this reckless, excessive federal bail-out bill. Under the guise of an “American Rescue Plan,” they are abandoning protection for the most vulnerable and voiceless lives in America:  babies in the womb.

Democrat Senators Joe Manchin (West Virginia), Bob Casey (Pennsylvania), and Tim Kaine (Virginia) voted for an amendment to restore the Hyde Amendment protections to prevent any of the $1.9 trillion from paying for abortion on demand. The amendment failed to reach the sixty votes needed for passage. These same members then voted for passage of the final bill, willing to allow billions of dollars in new Obamacare funding to pay for an abortion for any reason. Sens. Manchin, Casey, and Kaine care more about $1,400 checks in the mail than the billions of dollars that can now be spent to destroy innocent pre-born babies. Shame on them and the entire Democrat party.

The so-called “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” now goes back to the House for a vote. If you oppose the federal government using taxes from workers’ paychecks to fund the destruction of babies in the womb through abortion, call your member of Congress at 202-225-3121 and urge them to vote NO.


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Pro-life Senators join House Members in Drawing the Line to Save Hyde

By | Hyde Amendment, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Forty-eight Republican Senators have penned a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) pledging to oppose the rollback of longstanding protections in current law. Only Republican Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), both known for their pro-choice views, declined to sign.

Much like President Donald Trump’s veto promise in the 116th Congress, the message to Senate Democrats is unequivocal:

 “We are united in our resolve to guard against any changes to Federal law that would unsettle nearly half a century of bipartisan consensus against taxpayer funding for abortion on demand, or otherwise threaten the lives of unborn children. Accordingly, we are committed to vote against the advancement of any legislation that would eliminate or weaken the Hyde Amendment or any other current-law pro-life protections, or otherwise undermine existing Federal pro-life policy.”

This pledge draws a significant line in the sand for the incoming majority leader whose job it will be to navigate hurdles for advancing his party’s political and policy priorities. These include an aggressive agenda to repeal the Hyde Amendment, fund Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry at home and abroad, revoke our rights to conscience protections, sideline faith-based service providers who object to abortion, and codify Roe v. Wade.

These Senators join House members in a bicameral commitment to protect pro-life policy under the Biden Administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress. Their initiative demonstrates their noble commitment to the cause of protecting life at every stage of development and protecting the American taxpayer from paying for abortion, a policy supported by a majority of the American people– even a large percent who identify as pro-choice.

The Senators call on Sen. Schumer to see the truth about abortion:

 “Abortion is not health care; rather, it is a brutal procedure that destroys the life of an innocent unborn child. The Hyde Amendment reflects a consensus that millions of pro-life Americans who are profoundly opposed to abortion should not be coerced into paying for it or incentivizing it with their taxpayer dollars.”

Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee will work actively in partnership with pro-life members to ensure our hard-fought victories for protecting life are not overruled.  Our advocacy on Capitol Hill will require the engagement of all Americans who care about protecting the most vulnerable and voiceless among us.

Baby in womb

CWA Calls on Congress to Hold the Line on Life

By | Hyde Amendment, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Two hundred House Republicans sent a letter to House and Senate leaders today “to express our unified opposition to Congressional Democrats’ efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment and other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions.” They pledge to oppose any government funding bill that eliminates or weakens the Hyde Amendment or other pro-life appropriations protections in current law. Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee joined in support of this vital initiative with the following statement:

“Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee calls on Congress to Hold the Line on Life. We must Save Hyde as a continuing promise to American workers that our federal taxes will not be used to pay for annihilating unborn children. No humane society should promote the destruction of human life with its tax dollars.”

Read the letter to House and Senate leadership, released by the Republican Study Committee.

The Washington Examiner quotes CWA’s support for the initiative.

Concerned Women Today! The Fight to Keep the Hyde Amendment

By | Hyde Amendment, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Doreen Denny, CWA’s Vice President of Government Relations, takes you inside the U.S. House of Representatives to get a first-hand account of a hearing on the fight to keep the Hyde Amendment. Should American taxpayers be forced to pay for abortion? If the Democrats in Congress have their way, the answer is Yes.

Listen to the podcast here.

The Hyde Amendment and Human Life

By | Hyde Amendment, News and Events, Planned Parenthood, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Today, the House held an appropriations subcommittee hearing titled “The Impact on Women Seeking an Abortion but are Denied Because of an Inability to Pay.” Calling it what it is, a hearing dedicated to the elimination of the Hyde Amendment, would not be as well received.     

By way of background, the Hyde Amendment is a critical pro-life measure introduced by Congressman Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) in 1976 as a rider to the HHS appropriations billIt prohibits Medicaid, a federal and state assistance program based on an individual’s income, from contributing money to pay for women’s elective abortions. The Hyde Amendment has always, and continues, to maintain exceptions for instances of life endangerment, rape, and incest. For 44 years, Democrat legislators have worked to undermine and do away with the Hyde Amendment, yet it has remained a rider on the appropriation bill since that year as well as many other pieces of legislation throughout its nearly half a century existence.  

Bottom line: the Hyde Amendment does not prohibit abortion outright. It seeks only to ensure that taxpayer dollars cannot be used to facilitate abortion procedures. In doing so, it has encouraged an ethic life throughout its duration with more women choosing to give birth.  

Those without proper understanding of the Hyde Amendment’s history and purpose might walk away from today’s virtual hearing believing that the only way to save black American women is to get rid of the Hyde Amendment. Nothing could be further from the truth.  

Today’s hearing featured four witnesses, Dr. Herminia Palacio, President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, Dr. Jamila Perritt, President and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health, Ms. Amanda Beatriz Williams, Executive Director of the Lilith Fund, and finally, the sole pro-life voice in the midst, Ms. Christina Bennett, Communications Director of the Family Institute of Connecticut.  

There are so many things that could be said about the Hyde Amendment and the abortion industry but the conversation in the hearing focused on two principal issues. The first witness spoke about how the Hyde Amendment disproportionately “targets” minority women calling it a “racist policy.” The next focused on the point that abortion is healthcare and as such should not be singled out or have additional burdens placed upon it.   

First, talking about racist policies in relation to abortion necessitates a discussion about the origin of the abortion industry in this nation. The modern abortion industry in America can be traced back to Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and a radical advocate of racial eugenics. Sanger was outspoken in her distaste for black Americans, unapologetically affiliated herself with the Ku Klux Klan, and wrote openly about the need for sterilization of the “unfit.” Today, Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion facilitator, targets minority neighborhoods with 79% of their clinics located within walking distance of Black or Hispanic communities. This is no accident. Abortion is the leading cause of death for black Americans, more than all other causes combined including cancer, violent crimes, AIDS, and accidents. Black women make up just 14% of the childbearing population but obtain 36.2% of reported abortions. These statistics are heartbreaking, and it is baffling that they are not an impetus for change and uproar within the black community.  

Second, it is almost laughable to have to address the statement “abortion is healthcare.” Healthcare is to maintain or restore physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Abortion does none of these things. Abortion takes a life. Post abortive women are 81% more likely to experience mental health struggles such as anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, and marijuana abuse. Women who have had an abortion are 155% more likely to commit suicide. Grief, sadness, guilt, anger, anxiety, helplessness, and feeling isolated are drastically higher in women and men dealing with the ramifications of choosing abortion.  

Additionally, not even abortion advocates believe that abortion is equal to healthcare. If they did, they would have no problem ensuring that abortion facilities are up to par with health codes and guidelines for all medical procedures. In both Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt and June Medical Services v. Russo the abortion lobby fought vehemently against health and safety standards for women obtaining abortion procedures. In both cases, the Supreme Court turned its back on protecting life and protecting women.  

Christina Bennett, the only voice today that spoke up on behalf of women and children alike, shared about her brave mother who chose life in the face of extreme pressure to choose abortionHer mother’s abortion was paid for, and the abortionist was vehement that she go through with it, but she chose life. As a black woman, she spoke into the issue at hand when she noted that “repealing Hyde would lead to an increase in abortion in black communities.”  

 The whole hearing, from the title to the talking points, was sterile in nature, detached from the reality of what was being discussed. The sanctity of human life. The Charlotte Lozier Institute estimatethe Hyde Amendment has saved roughly 60,000 lives each year which adds up to 2.4 million lives saved since 1976. Witnesses and house members alike can try to sideline the reality – that they are discussing living, breathing human children – with talk about racial inequity, poverty levels, and medical billing. Do not allow yourself to be distracted. As Christina Bennett said in her statement, “it is not racist to protect black lives.” 

Read the letter CWA’s CEO and President, Penny Nance, sent to the House Subcommittee.

For America (Day 101) – A Prayer Against Late-Term Abortion

By | Hyde Amendment, News and Events, Prayer | No Comments

To You, oh Lord, we lift up our souls.
For You are good — ready to forgive
Those who call upon Your Name.
And so, we call upon Thee, Yahweh.

Arise Lord, against the evil that drives
The recent push for late-term abortion in our land.
Arise! Speak Lord, and it shall be done;
Raise up an army of salt and light in our midst.

Forgive us our silence and our apathy,
Cleanse us from all wickedness inside us
And help us to put these babies being slaughtered
Ahead of our selfish ambitions.

Teach us to love women in crisis pregnancies,
And the life You have created within them.
Teach us to love our enemies enough
To stand squarely against them in all truth.

Give us boldness to speak,
As the disciples before us;
Help us embrace ridicule and scorn,
For Your Name’s sake.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted
For righteousness’ sake,”[a] Christ said,
“Blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.”[b]

Fill us with Your justice for the unborn;
Open the eyes of our countrymen, and help us win
Against this great evil — this great injustice.
We are helpless without You.

Amen.


Click here for more prayers from our For America Prayer Journal.

Mario Diaz, Esq. is CWA’s general counsel. Follow him on Twitter @mariodiazesq.