From National Right to Life
Contact Senators Kennedy and Cassidy today!
WASHINGTON — Voting 219-212, with no Republican support, the House of Representatives on Friday approved the COVID-19 reconciliation package.
Republicans offered an amendment to the legislation — the McMorris Rogers-Foxx-Walorski Amendment — that would have applied the Hyde Amendment to the legislation and prevented taxpayer funds from paying for abortions. Without the Hyde protections in the reconciliation bill, it is estimated that over $414 billion in taxpayer dollars potentially could be used to pay for elective abortions or insurance plans that cover elective abortions.
Democrats on the Rules Committee refused to allow a vote on the McMorris Rogers-Foxx-Walorski Amendment which was supported by 206 members.
“Democrat leaders in the House are not interested in the wishes of the majority of Americans who oppose taxpayer funding of abortions,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Democrat leaders are more concerned with fulfilling election-year promises made to pro-abortion groups. Those groups are interested in abortion at any time, anywhere, for any reason, and paid for by taxpayers.”
The Hyde Amendment prevents the use of federal funds from being used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. The Hyde Amendment is widely recognized as having a significant impact on the number of abortions in the United States saving over an estimated two million American lives. National Right to Life believes that the Hyde Amendment has proven itself to be the greatest domestic abortion-reduction measure ever enacted by Congress.
“This legislation is a Democrat wish-list containing numerous provisions aimed at propping up the abortion industry,” said Jennifer Popik, J.D., director of Federal Legislation for National Right to Life. “This legislation could potentially funnel millions of dollars into programs without Hyde Amendment protections.”
Popik continued, “National Right to Life and its state affiliates urge pro-life citizens everywhere to contact their senators and ask them to oppose this legislation unless Hyde protections are added.”
A poll released in January found that, by a 20-point margin— 58% to 38%— Americans oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortion. When it comes to support/oppose “using tax dollars to support abortion in other countries”—another point of conflict – a majority of 77% opposes. That includes more than six in ten of those who identify as pro-choice (64%).
