House Republicans vow not to support spending bills that repeal Hyde Amendment

House Republicans are pushing back against efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment, vowing not to support any funding bill that includes language permitting the use of federal funding for abortion.  

A group of 200 House GOP lawmakers led by Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks (R-Ind.) signed on to a letter to congressional leaders in both chambers arguing the provision should remain intact and making the case that it has received bipartisan support in the past. 

“We write to express our unified opposition to Congressional Democrats’ efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment and other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions. As part of their pro-abortion crusade, Democrats have taken direct aim at these long-standing, bipartisan protections that generally prevent the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to support abortion procedures,” they wrote.  

“Repealing these pro-life provisions would destroy nearly half a century of bipartisan consensus. Each year since 1976, Congress has included Hyde protections in annually enacted appropriations. No president in American history has ever vetoed an appropriations bill due to its inclusion of the Hyde Amendment.” 

The letter comes as a large number of House Democrats, including House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), have sought to remove the language, arguing it hinders women’s care.  

“The Hyde amendment is a discriminatory policy. For more than 40 years, it has been routinely extended — every year as a legislative rider — but the time has come in this current moment to reckon with the norm, with the status quo, and view it through the lens of how it impacts communities of color,” DeLauro said in a statement in December.  

“Connecticut’s Medicaid program has covered abortion services using state funding since 1986 based on a Connecticut Superior Court decision. To date, that decision has never been appealed. Eight other states provide funding for abortion pursuant to a court order, while seven fund abortions voluntarily all using state dollars. However, thirty-three states and the District of Columbia deny state funding to women seeking access to abortion. As a result, the millions of economically insecure women in these states are hostage to their geography.”

The group GOP lawmakers dismissed the notion it hinders women’s health care and noted that previous Democratic administrations, including the Obama administration, were willing to maintain the language in past budget proposals and highlighted that President Biden previously voiced support for the provision as recently as 2019, though he has reversed his stance on the issue.  

“Years of public polling indicates that repealing the Hyde Amendment is opposed by most of the American public,” the letter said. 

“Congressional Democrats now seek to further erode public trust in government by ignoring mainstream public opinion in favor of placating the radical Left. The Hyde Amendment alone has saved the lives of over 2 million innocent babies and continues to protect the conscience rights of a vast majority of Americans opposed to publicly funded abortions. We cannot allow the Hyde Amendment and other important pro-life safeguards to be decimated by Congressional Democrats.”