In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022, many pro-life activists turned their attention to the states. This is because, for the first time in nearly 50 years, courts would likely uphold state laws granting legal protection to preborn children. Furthermore, there was the political will in many conservative states to enact strong pro-life laws. One year after the Dobbs decision, 14 states have laws in place protecting preborn children, and four other states are protecting preborn children after a certain gestational age. Good news.
However, the federal government continues to play a key role in abortion policy. In particular, it is important for pro-lifers to continue to defend the federal Hyde amendment. Since 1976, the Hyde amendment has been passed annually as a rider to the appropriations bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services. It prevents federal tax dollars from paying for elective abortions through the Medicaid program. There is a very broad consensus among researchers that the Hyde amendment lowers abortion rates. This week, the Charlotte Lozier Institute published my revised estimates of the number of lives saved by Hyde. I found that as of May 31, 2023, it has saved 2,566,968 lives.
The Hyde amendment once enjoyed strong bipartisan support. All eight of President Obama’s proposed budgets included the Hyde amendment, and seven of the eight budgets proposed by President Clinton did. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has shifted sharply to the left on abortion in recent years. None of President Biden’s budgets have included the Hyde amendment, and in 2021 every House Democrat voted for an appropriations bill that did not include it. Thankfully the good work of House and Senate Republicans has been able to save the Hyde amendment throughout Joe Biden’s presidency.
Overall, the issue of taxpayer funding for elective abortions is still a very salient issue in many states and at the federal level. Since 2018, three states, Illinois, Maine, and Rhode Island, have sadly begun covering elective abortions through their respective state Medicaid programs. During the Dobbs anniversary, the Hyde amendment certainly did not receive as much attention as did some state-level laws protecting preborn children. However, the Hyde amendment has an extremely impressive track record of saving lives. It is crucial that Republican elected officials keep the Hyde amendment in budget for the fiscal year 2024 and in future budgets — good research shows that tens of thousands of lives are at stake.