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Hyde Amendment Archives – Concerned Women for America

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 FSGG repealed other members of the family of protections:  the Dornan Amendment, a ban on the use of local and federal funds for abortion services in Washington, D.C., and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.

The Ongoing Fight to Protect Hyde

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

(Action item at the bottom of the post.)

President Biden’s $6 trillion Fiscal Year 2022 budget proposal to Congress breaks over four decades of bipartisan precedent by removing the Hyde Amendment, a prohibition on federal funding of elective abortion through Medicaid, Medicare disability, and other programming under Health and Human Services appropriations. As Congress proceeds with the appropriations process, pro-life advocates are gearing up to ensure that this time-honored safeguard is preserved.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently launched “Eighteen Days for H.R. 18,” a strategy utilizing procedural maneuvers to seek immediate consideration of H.R. 18, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act. This legislation would make the Hyde Amendment permanent and expand its applicability across all government programming, including Obamacare. CWALAC is scoring all votes related to the measure.

As of today, over 20 members have taken to the House floor to publicly highlight the importance of codifying the Hyde Amendment and defending life. On June 23, 2021, a key procedural vote put House Democrats on the record in obstruction of H.R. 18 and its progression through the chamber. This is far from the end of the fight. Our pro-life allies in Congress need our support as they continue to reject this Administration’s brazen assault on our most vulnerable and the conscience rights of American taxpayers.

Learn more about Hyde and its related pro-life provisions in the federal budget here!

Join us in sending a strong message to members of Congress to hold the line and protect life in the federal budget. Visit CWA’s Action Center to contact your Senators and Representative today.

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.