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Pro-Life Members Need Encouragement
to Hold the Line on Life!
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There’s no question that President Trump led the House and Senate in his leadership defending the preborn. Now with a Democratic Presidential Administration, it will be up to Republicans to fight for policy provisions and laws that protect the rights of our nation’s most vulnerable. And, it’s quite clear this will be a fight with the Democrats.
It is highly unlikely that anti-life President-elect Biden will tell Congress like President Trump did, that he would veto legislation that weakens current pro-life Federal policies and laws or encourages the destruction of human life at any stage. One of these long-standing policies is the Hyde Amendment, which has been around since 1976 and prevents taxpayer funds from being used to fund abortions. Sadly, the November election emboldened House Democrats who have already threatened the Amendment’s removal from the Appropriations process.
At a Congressional hearing in December 2020, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said of the amendment:
“The Hyde Amendment is a discriminatory policy. For more than 40 years, it has been routinely extended…but the time has come in this current moment to reckon with the norm, with the status quo…While the Labor, HHS, Education bill has carried the Hyde amendment every year since 1976, this is the last year…Now is the time to empower all women to be able to make deeply personal life decisions without politicians inserting themselves into the doctor’s office.”
Make no mistake, the Democrats want to make abortion the status quo. In doing so, they will violate the conscious rights of millions of Americans and deny the inherent rights of the preborn. Eagle Forum is dedicated to defending life in the 117th Congress and fighting for the addition of the Hyde Amendment in every appropriations package. But we need your help! Please ask your Representative to sign the below letter to House and Senate leadership expressing opposition to the removal of the Hyde Amendment and other current lawful pro-life appropriations provisions. It will certainly be a team effort to defend life the next couple of years!
January XX, 2021
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy
Republican Leader
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
The Honorable Chuck Schumer
Minority Leader
To _______,
We write to express our unified opposition to Congressional Democrats’ efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment and other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions. As part of their pro-abortion crusade, Democrats have taken direct aim at these long-standing, bipartisan protections that generally prevent the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to support abortion procedures.
Repealing these pro-life provisions would destroy nearly half a century of bipartisan consensus. Each year since 1976, Congress has included Hyde protections in annually enacted appropriations. No president in American history has ever vetoed an appropriations bill due to its inclusion of the Hyde Amendment.[1] Moreover, President Obama maintained the Hyde Amendment in each of his budget proposals. [2] As recent as June 2019, former Vice President Joe Biden supported the Hyde Amendment and acknowledged that it works harmoniously with federal funding for women’s healthcare.[3]
Years of public polling indicates that repealing the Hyde Amendment is opposed by most of the American public.[4] Congressional Democrats now seek to further erode public trust in government by ignoring mainstream public opinion in favor of placating the radical Left.
The Hyde Amendment alone has saved the lives of over 2 million innocent babies [5] and continues to protect the conscience rights of a vast majority of Americans opposed to publicly funded abortions. We cannot allow the Hyde Amendment and other important pro-life safeguards to be decimated by Congressional Democrats. Accordingly, we pledge to vote against any government funding bill that eliminates or weakens the Hyde Amendment or other current-law, pro-life appropriations provisions.
Sincerely,
________________________________
Rep. Jim Banks (IN-03)
Chairman, Republican Study Committee
[1]Jon O. Shimabukuro, Abortion: Judicial History and Legislative Response, CRA (Sept. 9 2019) https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33467.pdf#page=15
[2]Obama Budget Advances Reproductive Health at Home & Abroad, But Leaves Too Many Low-Income Women Behind, Center for Reproductive Rights (Feb. 10, 2016) https://www.reproductiverights.org/press-room/obama-budget-advances-reproductive-health-at-home-abroad-leaves-low-income-women-behind
[3] Christopher Donato, Joe Biden supports Hyde Amendment, splits from 2020 Dems on abortion measure, ABC (June 5, 2019) https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/joe-biden-supports-hyde-amendment-splits-2020-dems/story?id=63506190
[4]Bill Scher, The Hyde Amendment Isn't Going Anywhere, Real Clear Politics (June 10, 2019) https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/06/10/the_hyde_amendment_isnt_going_anywhere_140528.html
[5]Mallory Quigley, Hyde Amendment Has Saved More than 2 Million Lives, SBA List (Sept. 27, 2016) https://www.sba-list.org/newsroom/press-releases/hyde-amendment-saved-2-million-lives
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Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
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