The president’s message accompanying his budget lists “defending and protecting reproductive rights and health care” in his section about investing in the American people. It criticizes pro-life laws passed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and urges congressional action on legislation “restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law,” which would mandate legal abortion nationwide.
In a shift from long-standing precedent, the budget proposal would erase the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited direct taxpayer funding for most abortions for nearly half of a century. If this plan were enacted, federal agencies could legally fund elective abortions with tax dollars. This could include expanding Medicaid to cover abortions, which funded hundreds of thousands of abortions every year before the amendment was adopted in 1980.
Biden’s budget proposal would also eliminate the Dornan Amendment, which prevents local tax revenue received in Washington, D.C., from directly funding most abortions. This protection has been in place for more than 30 years.
Jenny Popik, the legislative director for National Right to Life, told CNA that the elimination of these amendments is the “most sweeping [and] dramatic departure from current law” contained in the budget proposal.
“This would be an enormous funding stream that would be used to [perform] and fund abortion,” Popik warned.
When Biden was a senator, he consistently supported and voted for the Hyde Amendment. He first shifted his position and called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment during his 2020 presidential campaign.
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