House Democrats blocked consideration of a bill Wednesday that would have codified the Hyde Amendment into federal law, banning taxpayer funding of abortion.
“Over 2.4 million girls and boys, who would have been aborted, instead survived because taxpayer funding was unavailable to effectuate their violent demise,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) on the floor of the House as he spoke in support of his legislation, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 18).
House Republicans are engaged in a campaign called “18 Days for H.R. 18,” an effort to assert their pro-life agenda and give Democrats an opportunity to join with them in retaining the longstanding bipartisan Hyde Amendment.
Smith noted that “166 Members of Congress have cosponsored my bill H.R. 18—No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act – to make the Hyde Amendment and other current abortion funding prohibitions permanent.”
“According to public opinion polls most Americans—by a decisive margin of 58% to 38% in a recent Marist poll—agree that taxpayers should not—I say again should not—be compelled against their conscience to fund abortion,” he added.
National pro-life leaders assert the Biden-Harris administration is the most pro-abortion in history. Under the guise of “equity,” and declaring abortion is the equivalent of “women’s health care,” Biden and his supporters vowed to eliminate the Hyde Amendment, a move forcing Americans to fund abortion, even those with faith beliefs and moral standards that forbid it.
At the end of May, Biden, a self-described Catholic, released his Fiscal Year 2022 budget, one that would eliminate the Hyde Amendment, a provision he once wholeheartedly supported.
In April 1994, then-Sen. Biden wrote to a constituent, “Those of us who are opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for them.”
Recently, a coalition of 22 state attorneys general urged Congress to restore the Hyde Amendment.