Susan Jones – July 16, 2021
(CNSNews.com) – Pro-life advocates are expressing deep dismay after the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the Fiscal Year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill — omitting the Hyde Amendment for the first time in 45 years.
The Hyde Amendment, which became law in 1976, bars the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortion except to save the mother’s life or in cases of incest or rape.
The appropriations bill passed through committee on a 33-25 vote on Thursday and now goes to the full House, where some 200 Republicans already have pledged to vote against it.
Committee member Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who introduced the measure this year, said repeal of the “longstanding, bipartisan” Hyde Amendment is an “outrageous move” that “doesn’t reflect the views held by the majority of Americans who oppose publicly-funded abortions.”
During the markup, Cole told the committee, “My amendment is simple.”
Cole noted that even among Americans who support abortion, “most don’t believe tax dollars should be used for abortion. In fact, 60 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortion,” he said.
Cole said scrapping the Hyde Amendment is another “overreach” by the far-left:
“But it also threatens to destabilize the entire appropriations process because this bill will never become law if this language is not included. Democrats in Congress simply do not have the majorities capable of passing this bill without Republican votes.