Last week, a months-long fight over healthcare policy climaxed in the House of Representatives. Seventeen members from Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-Louisiana 4th) side of the aisle voted with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York 8th) to advance his proposed Obamacare extension, breaking with their party and abandoning a bare-minimum commitment to the Hyde Amendment.
The Hyde Amendment is a staple provision in the annual Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriation Act (LHHS) text that prevents federal funds from covering abortions and health plans that cover abortions. Since its first inclusion in LHHS in the 1970s, the Hyde Amendment has saved over 2.5 million babies from the violence of abortion and served as a non-negotiable inclusion for pro-life politicians.
The Hyde Amendment was a settled, bipartisan appropriations fixture until the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2010. Hyde protections were stripped from the bill in the Senate, and in the fifteen years following the inauguration of Obamacare, the program has funneled hard-earned American taxpayer dollars to the abortion industry.
Further, President Biden worsened Obamacare’s 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. Those subsidies were set to expire on the last day of 2025, setting the stage for the healthcare fight Washington, D.C., stumbled into late last year.
In the fall, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) forced a record-breaking 43-day government shutdown over healthcare, demanding that the majority party sign off on extending expiring COVID Obamacare subsidies in exchange for cooperation in the appropriations process. The end of the government shutdown was anticlimactic for the minority party—four moderates from Leader Schumer’s party voted to end the shutdown and pass a clean continuing resolution.
The fight over Obamacare extensions didn’t end there. In December, House Minority Leader Jeffries filed a discharge petition in the House (a procedural mechanism used by the minority party to bypass the Speaker and force a bill to the House floor). Four from the majority party—Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania 1st), Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York 17th), Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pennsylvania 7th), and Rep. Paul Bresnahan (R-Pennsylvania 8th)—signed on to the petition, pushing it across the finish line and forcing a vote on Jeffries’ three-year ACA extension.
Leader Jeffries’ three-year extension perpetuates Obamacare’s taxpayer funding of the abortion industry—the text, like the 2010 Affordable Care Act, excludes Hyde protections. Concerned Women for America LAC (CWALAC) issued a stern score letter against the consideration and final vote on the Jeffries petition, 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.”
Last week, Congress hosted a turbulent vote on Jeffries’ healthcare plan. Speaker Johnson stood strong, issuing a clear message to his party: “We are not going to change the standard that we’re not gonna use taxpayer funding for abortion.”
Regardless, nine members from the majority defected and voted to consider Jeffries’ bill. Seventeen voted ‘Yes’ on final consideration. Those members empowered Leader Jeffries’ and his members to pass a pro-abortion ACA extension.
The Hyde Amendment is a bare minimum for women, children, and taxpayers across the country. It is a red line and a rock bottom for the pro-life coalition, and over sixty percent of Americans approve of its protections. Fifteen years of Obamacare subsidized abortions is fifteen years too long, and three more years is unacceptable.
Seventeen members of the House majority—Rep. Mike Carey (R-Ohio 15th), Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-New York 2nd), Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pennsylvania 7th), Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York 17th), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania 1st), Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio 14th), Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-New Jersey 7th), Rep. Nick LaLota (R-New York 1st), Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio 7th), Rep. David Valadao (R-California 22nd), Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Virginia 1st), Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Colorado 3rd), Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Florida 27th), Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pennsylvania 8th), Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin 3rd), Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa 3rd), and Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas 15th)—breached trust with the American people last week, rubber-stamping the abuse of hard-earned tax dollars to cover abortion services; still, the fight is far from over. All eyes are on the Senate as the upper chamber is set to consider next steps for healthcare.
Please join CWALAC in praying that Obamacare-subsidized abortions would come to an end, and that our allies on Capitol Hill would boldly hold the line on the Hyde Amendment.
