In U.S. politics, the Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape. Legislation including the Hyde Amendment generally restricts the use of funds allocated for the Department of Health and Human Services and primarily affects Medicaid. Medicaid currently serves approximately 6.5 million women in the United States and 1 in 5 women of reproductive age (women aged 15-44).
The original Hyde Amendment was passed on September 30, 1976 by the House of Representatives, by a 207-167 vote. It was named for its chief sponsor, Republican Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois. The measure was the first major legislative success by the United States pro-life movement (also known as the anti-abortion movement or the anti-choice movement), especially the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment led by lobbyist Mark Gallagher, after the striking-down of anti-abortion laws following the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. Congress subsequently altered the Hyde Amendment several times. The version in force from 1981 until 1993 prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions "except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term."
On October 22, 1993, President Clinton signed into law the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1994. The Act contained a new version of the Hyde Amendment that expanded the category of abortions for which federal funds are available under Medicaid to include cases of rape and incest.
The 2016 platform marked the first time the Democratic platform had an explicit call to repeal the Hyde Amendment. On January 24, 2017, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7, which, according to the press office of Speaker Paul Ryan, "makes the Hyde amendment permanent."
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Amendment Content and Language
Although the exact language of the Hyde Amendment has changed over the years, the 2014 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education contained the following limitations on federal spending for abortion that is typical of Hyde Amendment language generally:
SEC. 301. (a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion. (b) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion....
SEC. 302 The limitations established in the preceding section shall not apply to an abortion-- (1) if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest; or (2) in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, including a life endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.
How To Pay For Abortion Video
Background
The Hyde Amendment was introduced by pro-life Congressman Henry J. Hyde and first passed by Congress three years after Roe vs. Wade in 1977. Implementation of the initial amendment was blocked for almost a year by an injunction in the McRae v. Matthews case. During this case, the Reproductive Freedom Project, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Planned Parenthood collectively represented a pregnant Medicaid recipient and health care providers who challenged the Hyde Amendment. The United States Supreme Court vacated the injunction in August 1977, leading abortions financed by federal Medicaid to drop from 300,000 per year to a few thousand. Hyde-type funding bans were also extended to other annual spending bills in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This eventually led federal funds to be banned in federal worker health plans, women in federal prisons, women in the military, peace corps volunteers, and international family planning programs that use non-U.S. funds to perform or advocate for abortion.
The Hyde Amendment has been reenacted every year since 1976, but exceptions have varied. For example, the 1978 Amendment presented new exceptions for rape survivors and incest cases. However, in 1980, the Supreme Court decided Harris vs. McRae and upheld the constitutionality of the original Hyde Amendment language with a 5-4 vote. The majority found that the Hyde Amendment did not violate due process or equal protection provided by the First Amendment or Fifth Amendment. This case decided the single exception for the Amendment would be in life endangerment cases. This decision was upheld from fiscal years 1981-1993. While the Supreme Court came close to overturning abortion rights entirely in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services of Missouri, President George H.W. Bush vetoed the bill. The House override vote later failed. The language did not change until the Clinton Administration in 1993. At this time, the Hyde Amendment was once again expanded to include exceptions for rape and incest cases.
Later in William v. Zbaraz, the United States Supreme Court upheld that states could constitutionally make their own versions of the Hyde Amendment, and states/the federal government have no statutory or constitutional obligation to fund medically necessary abortions.
Currently, 17 states extend abortion coverage to women enrolled in Medicaid through their own budgets, and 6 states extend abortion coverage when a woman's health is at risk. The reminder of the country abides by the Hyde Amendment. South Dakota expands on the Hyde Amendment and restricts funding even in cases of rape or incest. As of 1994, federal law mandates all states to pay for abortion cases involving rape or incest, proving South Dakota's actions to be problematic.
On January 24, 2017, the House voted to make the Hyde Amendment (H.R. 7) permanent. In response, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) stated that "We are a pro-life Congress," and he reaffirmed the government's commitment to restricting tax money to funding abortions.
Arguments Supporting the Amendment
One of the primary arguments surrounding the Hyde Amendment is that of "morality" and the discussion as to whether or not taxpayer money should be used for abortion services. There are many Americans who believe that federal money should not be used to fund abortion practices which was one of the underlying reasons that the bill has had so much support from the start. Proponents of the amendment assert that the Hyde Amendment is an enforcement of "religious liberty and conscience" of Pro-Life Americans who do not wish to support (either fiscally or morally) the act of abortion.
Another argument commonly made by supporters of the Hyde Amendment is that the amendment itself does not prevent women from seeking out an abortion because it does not criminalize abortions themselves, but simply withholds government money from such programs. Supporters would claim that a women's lack of access to such services on the grounds of fiscal matters is "the product not of governmental restrictions on access to abortions, but rather of her indigency". Simply put, this means that supporters of the bill claim that the Hyde Amendment does not prevent a woman from obtaining an abortion, but it prevents the entitlement of government funding to women who wish to have one. Advocates of they Hyde Amendment further state that this ban of federal funding for abortions does not interfere with a woman's freedom to choose seek out an abortion since the Amendment does not legally outlaw the medical service.
Arguments Against the Amendment
There are many arguments contesting the Hyde Amendment. For example, one of the most debated claims concerns the Hyde Amendment's negative impact on women on Medicaid. When policymakers deny a woman insurance coverage for abortion, she is either forced to carry out the pregnancy to term for pay for care out of her own pocket. Consequently, the Hyde Amendment is therefore particularly harmful to low-income women, women of color, young women, and immigrants. The Hyde Amendment has been found to negatively impact these women due to the fact that studies show these groups to disproportionately rely on Medicaid for health care coverage.
To support this assertion, consider the following statistics. Firstly 15.6 million women (ages 19 to 64) have Medicaid coverage. Additionally, Medicaid provides coverage to 1 in 5 women of reproductive age (15-44). Due to the structural inequalities in the United States that perpetuate the link between race, sex and economic inequality, women of color disproportionately comprise the majority of enrollment with Medicaid. In fact 30% of African American women and 24% of Hispanic women are in enrolled in Medicaid. This is compared to 14% of white women enrolled.
Effects and Implications of the Hyde Amendment
Because the Hyde Amendment bans the use of federal funding of abortions in most cases, the legislative provision restricts abortion access for women who receive their healthcare through the United States government. The affected women include: women enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, Native American women, U.S. servicewomen and veterans, Peace Corps volunteers, federal employees, women who live in Washington, D.C., and women in immigration detention facilities and prisons.
This restriction disproportionately affects poor women, who are unable to afford private insurance or the costs of the abortion itself. About 42% of women who have abortions live below the poverty line; since the passage of the Hyde Amendment, more than one million women have not been able to afford abortions and so have had to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.
State actions
The cutoff of federal Medicaid funds prompted some states to provide public funding for abortion services from their own coffers. Over time the number of states doing so has gradually expanded, either through legislation or consequent to judicial rulings mandating equal access to health care for low-income women.
Related laws
The Stupak-Pitts Amendment, an amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America Act, was introduced by Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan. It prohibits use of Federal funds "to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion" except in cases of rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother, and was included in the bill as passed by the House of Representatives on November 7, 2009. However, the Senate bill passed by the House on March 21, 2010 did not contain that Hyde Amendment language. As part of an agreement between Rep. Stupak and President Obama to secure Stupak's vote, the President issued Executive Order 13535 on March 24, 2010 affirming that the Hyde Amendment would extend to the new bill.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
EmoticonEmoticon