As lawmakers negotiated annual government spending bills this summer and fall, federal funding for abortions emerged as a contentious issue. Democrats pushed for the removal of an annual appropriations rider known as the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions, while Republicans said they were committed to keeping it on the books.
First enacted by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment, named for former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), means there is no coverage for abortions for Medicaid recipients and those who get health care through other federal programs like the Indian Health Service, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Sixteen states currently provide their own funding to cover abortions for Medicaid recipients, but the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights research firm, says 7.8 million women ages 15-49 who have Medicaid are affected by the ban.
The specific language has shifted over the years but does include an exception for procedures if the life of the mother is in danger or in cases of rape and incest. The amendment has typically been attached to the appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every year for the last several decades.
The amendment has come under more scrutiny in the last several years, however. During the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden voiced opposition to the amendment and called for its removal, despite previously supporting it as a senator. “If I believe heath care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s ZIP code,” Biden said in 2019 on the campaign trail, referring to the increasing challenge by many to access abortion services in some states. Biden further explained that he believes access to abortion, especially for low-income women and women of color, is “under attack.”
Biden held good on his campaign promise in his fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, which did not include the Hyde Amendment — a move that was applauded by abortion rights groups. “Exciting to see the admin’s historic step! For too long, the Hyde Amendment has put the government in control of personal health care decisions for people with low incomes,” nonprofit women’s health provider Planned Parenthood said on Twitter.
Democratic leaders in Congress said they would take their own steps to remove the amendment. “Now is the time,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in January after Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.
In the Senate, Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the appropriations panel overseeing health spending, also tried to build support for removing the amendment. “Especially with a conservative Supreme Court taking up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, we’ve got to do everything we can to stand up for reproductive health care,” Murray said in a statement to Politico.
However, attempts to strip the amendment have seen considerable criticism. For example, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called the budget plan “reckless and irresponsible” in part due to its removal of the amendment. Center-leaning Democrats, including Sens. Bob Casey (Pa.), Tim Kaine (Va.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) have also voiced opposition to removing the amendment.
“I think there’s a wide disagreement on the issue across the country, and we’ve made the decision now over generations that those who don’t support abortion shouldn’t have their tax dollars going to it,” Casey told Politico.
The three senators also voted for an amendment adding Hyde restrictions to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that passed in March. That would have expanded the abortion coverage ban to private insurance markets, but it failed to garner the 60 votes required for adoption.
Manchin has repeatedly stated that he will support the Hyde Amendment “in every possible way,” and his staunch support of the legislation became a sticking point in the budget reconciliation package talks this fall.
“We’re not taking the Hyde Amendment off. Hyde’s going to be on,” Manchin told the National Review. “That’s dead on arrival if that’s gone.” The Hyde Amendment remained up in the air as Congress continued to negotiate the appropriations bills this fall.
Given increasing restrictions on abortion in several states, including Texas, which recently passed a law that effectively bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — before most women know they are pregnant — the fate of the Hyde Amendment could influence the state of abortion rights throughout the country.
For background, see the October 2015 issue of Congressional Digest on “Planned Parenthood Funding.”
