Twenty-two Republican state attorneys general are advising Congress not to follow President Joe Biden’s lead and instead keep the Hyde Amendment in the federal budget.
“We were disappointed to find the conspicuous omission of the Hyde Amendment in the budget proposal that President Biden delivered to Congress earlier this month,” the Republicans wrote in a letter on Monday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
As the letter notes, the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions.
“It is unconscionable to force [taxpayers] to pay for abortions by using their tax dollars for that purpose,” the letter, led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, reads.
It continues, “Congress should resist following President Biden down this path and should instead maintain the Hyde Amendment language in the budget it ultimately passes.”
The attorneys general noted Biden shifted his position on the Hyde Amendment in 2019, saying he could not “justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the ability to exercise their constitutionally protected right.”
The letter argues, “But even if one accepts the notion that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion, the Supreme Court has made clear that the ‘right’ is not a taxpayer-backed guarantee.”
The Republicans suggested, “If state taxpayers disagree with the services that their tax dollars pay for, they can ‘vote with their feet’ and move to a state with lower taxes or one that prioritizes spending differently.”
They added, “But because one cannot move to avoid federal taxes, there would be nowhere for a pro-life, or even a moderately pro-choice, American to go to avoid violating the moral or religious conviction that their hard-earned dollars not be used to fund abortions. The administration’s decision here is merely the most recent illustration of its having lost all sense of accountability to the taxpayer.”
