SEN JAMES LANKFORD: When we March for Life, we must fight for the Hyde Amendment

This Jan. 23, arsenic we people the 53rd yearly March for Life, we besides admit the 50th day of the Hyde Amendment, which settled successful instrumentality that American taxpayers bash not subsidize elective abortions. Period. The Hyde Amendment is not astir if elective termination should beryllium legal, it’s astir who has to wage for it. For 5 decades, each Congress has voted successful favour of the yearly appropriation bills to affirm the Hyde Amendment. The citizens of our large federation person powerfully held and wide divers opinions astir abortion, but successful canvass aft poll, Americans hold that they should not beryllium forced to wage for idiosyncratic else’s abortion.

The Hyde Amendment has 2 clear tenets, federal taxpayers bash not wage for abortions oregon subsidize programs that wage for abortions. Every national healthcare programme has Hyde Amendment protections, including Medicaid, Tricare, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and Indian Health Services and Medicare, but for 1 wellness attraction program: Obamacare.  

The so-called "Affordable Care Act" is the lone healthcare program that circumvents Hyde protections with its notorious "Section 1303" accounting gimmick created erstwhile the measure passed 16 years ago. 

Democrats volition often accidental that Obamacare abides by Hyde because Section 1303 requires a "separate payment" of astatine slightest a dollar each period for termination coverage, which they cognize is an accounting sleight of hand. As soon arsenic the instrumentality passed 16 years ago, the Obama medication ruled that "separate" actually meant "together" which allowed 1 outgo to beryllium divided into 2 parts, often paid for by national taxation dollars.

ABORTION RESTRICTIONS CREATE MAJOR ROADBLOCK FOR BIPARTISAN OBAMACARE SUBSIDY DEAL IN SENATE

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks, arsenic pro-life demonstrators stitchery for the yearly March for Life rally, successful Washington, D.C., Jan. 24, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

The millions of radical paying zero premiums for Obamacare bash not wage an further dollar for their abortion coverage; it’s included successful their taxpayer-subsidized premium taxation credit. 

There are now 12 states that volition not adjacent let a healthcare program to beryllium sold successful the authorities unless it covers surgical and chemic abortion. In those states, each payer is forced to subsidize abortions with their taxation dollars and with their monthly premium dollars. Roughly 15 different insurers failed to even itemize dollars associated with termination sum connected their enrollees’ bills, nor did they separately measure for the termination premium amount, which is required by law.

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Of course, the biggest grounds that Obamacare does not truly person Hyde Amendment protections really comes from the pro-abortion groups Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Reproductive Freedom for All. They precocious sent a beardown missive to each Democratic members of Congress letting them cognize that they would combat against immoderate subordinate of Congress who adds Hyde protections to the Obamacare taxation credits. They cognize that Obamacare is the lone national healthcare that pays for abortions and they bash not privation to suffer that gross stream. 

There is nary statement that the outgo of healthcare has skyrocketed. Former President Barack Obama’s pledge of a $2,500 savings for all American families successful healthcare premiums has ne'er materialized. For years, Republicans person laid retired elemental strategies to trim the outgo of healthcare, similar allowing tiny businesses to articulation unneurotic into groups, make subsidized precocious hazard pools to little the outgo for each wellness insurance, and confronting the pharmacy payment managers that bounds formulary choices and thrust up costs for the consumer.

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But, each clip we attempt to code healthcare costs, Democrats request that immoderate woody indispensable see elective termination coverage, paid for by American taxpayers. That is simply a non-starter for the millions of Americans that privation healthcare to prevention lives, not instrumentality it. We don’t believe that immoderate children are disposable and immoderate children are valuable, we judge each children are valuable. 

Which is wherefore the speech astir the 50-year-old Hyde Amendment matters, due to the fact that children matter. All of them. We tin trim the outgo of healthcare, but to bash it, Democrats are going to person to beryllium much flexible connected Hyde. 

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