The Hyde Amendment Turns 50: No One Should Be Forced to Fund Abortion

Fifty years ago, Congress officially moved to add the Hyde Amendment to federal appropriations bills. Offered by Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde, it has largely kept federal Medicaid dollars from paying for abortions, with limited exceptions. Congress has renewed it in appropriations bills every year since.

The reason it has lasted comes down to a principle at the heart of a free society: No one should be forced to fund the taking of an innocent human life. Government-compelled participation in abortion has no place in our country, and the Hyde Amendment has protected taxpayers from it for half a century on the federal level. And, according to members of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, it has saved nearly 2.7 million lives in the process.

But the Hyde Amendment has never been permanent law. It survives only because Congress chooses to renew it, year after year. On its 50th anniversary, it’s worth understanding where the amendment came from, why the principle behind it matters, and why it is still worth defending today.

The history of the Hyde Amendment

In 1973, the Supreme Court tragically decided Roe v. Wade, which wrongly found a federal constitutional “right” to abortion. For pro-life Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde, this was unconscionable. But he took particular issue with the way this ruling would effectively force taxpayers—even those morally opposed to abortion—to fund the procedure. Three years later, the Illinois representative successfully introduced the Hyde Amendment.

Almost as soon as the Hyde Amendment became law, abortion-rights groups went to court, arguing it violated the Medicaid Act and the Fifth and First Amendments. In 1980, the Supreme Court rejected those claims in Harris v. McRae.

The Court held that the Medicaid Act did not obligate states to keep paying for abortions the federal government would no longer reimburse. Medicaid, the Court explained, is a partnership with shared costs, not a tool for forcing states to provide services Congress won’t fund.

The Court also held that the Hyde Amendment did not violate the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause because it creates “no governmental obstacle” for a woman who chooses abortion. It simply declines to subsidize abortion and encourages other choices.

That distinction still matters. Declining to pay for abortion is not the same as banning it. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize the taking of innocent human life.

Since 1993, the amendment has also included an exception for rape or incest.

For decades, the Hyde Amendment has drawn support from both parties. But that has changed, especially since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

A principle under pressure

Even before Dobbs, the Hyde Amendment became a major target for pro-abortionists. In 2019, Joe Biden, who had backed the Hyde Amendment for years, reversed course during his presidential campaign. Once in office, his administration omitted Hyde from its fiscal year 2022 budget request, and pro-abortion lawmakers advanced spending bills in both the House and the Senate without it. Hyde returned in the final spending package in March 2022, but only after a months-long fight.

Americans came uncomfortably close to having their federal tax dollars fund abortion again just a few years ago, and pro-abortion activists have only gotten more aggressive after Dobbs.

The landscape has shifted outside Washington, too. Twenty-one states now use their own tax dollars to fund most abortions through Medicaid. The Hyde Amendment still keeps federal dollars out of the equation, but the pressure to remove that protection continues.

Why the Hyde Amendment matters

Government-compelled participation in abortion has no place in our country. Because of that, on a fundamental level, the Hyde Amendment helps protect a key facet of the First Amendment: freedom of conscience.

Abortion ends an innocent human life, and most Americans oppose having their tax dollars forcibly supporting it. Americans should never be forced to pay for it, and Hyde has honored that principle for 50 years.

The Hyde Amendment also helps protect innocent life. Some groups estimate that Hyde has saved nearly 2.7 million lives. That is nearly the size of Chicago’s population, the nation’s third-largest city.

Abortion activists wrongly claim that the Hyde Amendment unfairly burdens low-income women. But women facing unplanned pregnancies, especially those with few resources, deserve real health care and real support for themselves and their children. The truth of the matter is that forced funding of abortion not only harms women and children, but also strips limited resources away from that real health care and real support they need.

That truth was reinforced in the landmark case Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. When South Carolina chose to cut off its state Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, the abortion facility sued. The case would eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling effectively allows states to defund abortion facilities and redirect their limited tax dollars to real, comprehensive care.

Keeping the promise

Fifty years ago, Congress drew a simple line: Americans would not be forced to use their federal tax dollars to pay for the taking of innocent human life. That line has held through every appropriations cycle since, and millions of children are alive today because of it.

Even after fifty years, the Hyde Amendment can’t be taken for granted. Once backed by both parties, it was left out of the previous President’s proposed budget, came close to being dropped from the spending bills entirely, and now sits alongside a growing number of states that fund abortion on their own anyway.

It was never a permanent law, but it points to the need for a permanent solution. A principle this important shouldn’t hang upon who currently holds the reins of the federal government.