Representative Henry Hyde’s legacy is slipping away before our eyes.
Since 1977, Rep. Hyde’s hard-won and bipartisan Hyde Amendment has prohibited the taxpayer funding of abortion in healthcare bills and saved an estimated 2.6 million lives—despite repeated attacks from abortion-advocacy groups like the Guttmacher Institute. In 2010, an unrecognizable Democratic Party bulldozed this victory through Obamacare, which intentionally bypassed Hyde protections. Though Republicans tried and failed to incorporate Hyde in the final version of Obamacare, their resolve on this central moral issue never faltered—until now.
Despite a Republican administration and control of Congress, 17 House Republicans joined Democrats in voting to extend Obamacare subsidies without Hyde protections. The pro-life movement—and the Republican voters who elect them—will not forget this retreat.
There is still hope, however, that the Senate will correct this historic blunder. Senators now face a grave moral choice with serious political consequences: insist that any Obamacare extensions include Hyde protections to preserve the consciences of taxpayers, protect the lives of unborn children, and uphold the well-being of their mothers—or abandon decades of policy and lose the backing of the pro-life movement in elections to come.
Until recently, Republicans uniformly understood that the Hyde Amendment—the pro-life movement’s first victory after Roe v. Wade—was the bare minimum standard of pro-life policy. President Donald Trump signed an executive order reinforcing Hyde just last January, but now he is asking pro-life advocates and lawmakers to do the unacceptable: to be “flexible” on a core issue that has kept taxpayer-funded abortion extremism at bay.
The pro-life movement is united in its pushback, recognizing that “flexibility” on this issue would violate well-formed consciences, erase decades of pro-life protections, and permanently weaken the party’s political bargaining power. And contrary to what some have claimed, Obamacare does not respect Hyde protections and has historically subsidized insurance plans that include abortion. It will continue doing so if it passes the Senate.
Republicans have far more to fear than delaying a vote or appearing “rigid.” Already, 17 House Republicans have signaled weakness to Democrats by shrinking from what is right—even when they hold all the power. In the process, they have left the Hyde Amendment — and the millions of babies and mothers it protects — vulnerable to permanent damage.
Moreover, they have failed to account for the majority of Americans—nearly six in 10—who oppose using their tax dollars to fund abortion.
Dozens of pro-life lawmakers have urged their colleagues not to abandon a bedrock principle. While they heroically hold the line, every major pro-life organization has coalesced with impressive unity to defend the Hyde Amendment and condemn those who deserted it.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has stated plainly that its political involvement in future primaries and the general election hinges on how members of Congress vote on Hyde.
March for Life President Jennie Lichter noted ahead of the national march that “jettisoning Hyde and forcing Americans to pay for abortions with their taxpayer dollars is bad policy and bad politics.”
Family Policy Alliance President and CEO Craig DeRoche warned that “treating Hyde as negotiable tells voters that it is more politically convenient—and keeping your job in Congress is more valuable—to these politicians than the life itself of the people they represent.”
State leaders have echoed these warnings. In a webcast with more than 1,500 grassroots pro-life activists, leaders in battleground states including South Carolina, Ohio, Missouri, and Iowa reiterated that pro-life voters expect their elected representatives to stand firm on Hyde.
This passionate mobilization should chill any Republican temptation toward “flexibility”—a trait their unrelenting Democratic opponents will never be accused of, especially when they are in the majority.
Let us hope senators recognize that the House vote was a major political misfire—one that exposed some Washington politicians as untrustworthy to the pro-life advocates who elect them and expect them to stand by their commitments.
Hyde’s career-long fight to protect unborn children and their mothers was rooted in his belief that “the law exists to protect the weak from the strong.” He understood which issues allowed compromise—and which demanded resolve. Preventing the use of taxpayer funds to end innocent lives fell squarely into the latter category for Hyde, as well as for the bipartisan majorities who repeatedly voted to uphold the Hyde Amendment.
The pro-life movement is not going to let Congress toss Hyde’s legacy aside. And it has made clear that abandoning Hyde will make anyone who does so a political liability.
David Bereit is an internationally respected pro-life leader who serves as Executive Director of the Life Leadership Conference, strategically uniting, coordinating, and mobilizing the pro-life movement. David previously founded and led the global 40 Days for Life movement, and has spent decades advising top pro-life organizations, leaders, and philanthropists.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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