On Wednesday, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee sent a letter to the Chair of the Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) urging her to keep critical pro-life protections from the Hyde Amendment in the Fiscal year 2022 budget.
The Hyde Amendment is a longstanding provision in budget bills that keeps federal taxpayer funds from going to abortions or referring for abortions.
Recently, pro-abortion Democrats in Congress, along with Joe Biden, have been working to strip the Hyde Amendment from recent funding bills to help pad the pockets of abortion mills like Planned Parenthood.
The letter sent by the Appropriations Republicans reads, “For more than four decades, across multiple Administrations and Congresses led by both Democrats and Republicans, language has been included in the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations bill that restricts federal taxpayer funding for abortion under most circumstances. The Hyde Amendment, named for its author, the late Illinois Congressman Henry Hyde, has always enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Before he entered the White House and as recently as June 2019, President Biden himself expressed support for retaining the Hyde Amendment in annual funding bills.”
The Republicans added how the lack of the Hyde Amendment in the budget would be a broken promise from the Biden administration, which focused on “unifying” the country.
“In his Inaugural Address, President Biden spoke of the need for unity among Americans. We agree that unity at this time is certainly needed, particularly in light of the divided political climate. And, while the country may be divided on the question of abortion, a significant majority of Americans do agree that the federal government should not use taxpayer dollars to subsidize abortion,” the letter reads.
“These provisions reflect a time-tested balance of strongly held and differing perspectives on abortion in this country. As such, we will strongly oppose any appropriations bill that seeks to weaken pro-life protections or eliminates Hyde policies. Thank you for your consideration of this request.”
After the letter was sent, many co-signers reaffirmed their support for the Hyde Amendment, such as Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) who wrote, “Today, I joined @RepKayGranger and my fellow @HouseAppropsGOP colleagues in urging the Majority to keep existing and long-standing pro-life protections in FY22 appropriations bills. Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be utilized to fund abortions.”
Today, I joined @RepKayGranger and my fellow @HouseAppropsGOP colleagues in urging the Majority to keep existing and long-standing pro-life protections in FY22 appropriations bills. Taxpayer dollars shouldn't be utilized to fund abortions. #SaveHyde https://t.co/35250mfj6F
— Rep. Steve Womack (@rep_stevewomack) April 7, 2021
