The House has passed President Biden’s budget proposal (along party lines) without the Hyde Amendment attached, as he pledged to do when running for office. (Scroll down to view previous posts on this story). If passed by the Senate, federal funds will be used to pay for abortions on women receiving Medicaid for the first time since the budget amendment was introduced in 1976. Henry Hyde was a Catholic and supported respect for life and was a member of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men’s organization which is devoted to respect for life and the dignity of the individual.

Public opinion on the issue shows that voters are strongly against use of tax money to pay for abortions. Nevertheless, many states (along partisan lines) require the state portion of Medicaid to pay for abortions. Without the Hyde Amendment to the budget, the federal part of Medicaid funds will be used to pay for such abortions.

This is a continuation of the current administration plan to expand abortion as much as possible nationally and internationally. The first action by Biden toward this goal was to rescind the Mexico City Policy, freeing up US tax dollars to fund abortion internationally.

Planned Parenthood has made donations in the many tens of millions of dollars to politicians supporting the expansion of abortion at any gestational age, for any reason, on demand. They proudly declare this fact publicly, and are required by law to disclose the information in any case.

However, some people are saying that the budget will not pass the Senate without the Hyde Amendment. Among organizations applying political pressure to senators are the Knights of Columbus and the US Catholic Bishops. They are joined by many pro-life organizations, including churches. As noted above, the notion of taxpayer funded abortion is not popular, and democrats are properly concerned that passing a budget without the Hyde Amendment may receive a strong negative reaction at the mid-term election in 2022.