Pro life org to Congress: Hyde Amendment is non-negotiable

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(The Center Square) – An American pro-life group told President Donald Trump and Congress that the Hyde Amendment is “non-negotiable,” following comments from the president that Republicans should be flexible on the issue and preceding a healthcare vote Thursday.

President of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Marjorie Dannenfelser told The Center Square that “abandoning Hyde is not just bad policy that harms babies in the womb and their mothers, it is not politically smart or helpful for the future of the GOP either.”

“The Hyde Amendment has saved more than 2.6 million lives over its 50-year existence by protecting taxpayers from being forced to fund abortion on demand,” Dannenfelser said.

As explained by a letter pro-life organizations sent to Congress in October concerning taxpayer funded abortion, the Hyde Amendment for decades worked to protect “the unborn by stopping taxpayers from being forced to pay for abortion and for health insurance plans that include coverage of abortion” until Obamacare ruptured the policy in 2010.

Dannenfelser told The Center Square that Hyde “reflects the will of nearly 6 in 10 voters, including 58% of Independents, a full third of rank-and-file Democrats, and more than 40% of self-described pro-choice voters.

“The pro-life movement is definitely not ‘flexible’ on requiring people to pay for the deaths of other human beings, which is longstanding consensus and really the minimum expectation,” Dannenfelser said.

“The GOP cannot expect to abandon this bedrock principle, betray their base, and depress turnout especially in a midterm year and win elections,” Dannenfelser said.

“We’ve seen, for example, critical Senate elections in midterm years decided by about 10,000 votes, with the help of the largest pro-life voter contact program in the nation – built by SBA Pro-Life America and fueled by the enthusiasm of grassroots Americans meeting millions of voters right at their doors to persuade and motivate,” Dannenfelser said.

“When margins are so tight it does not take much to swing outcomes either direction,” Dannenfelser said.

The Center Square previously noted the role pro-life voters play in elections

SBA Pro-Life America’s state public affairs director Kelsey Pritchard said in November Trump would have lost the 2024 presidential election “if 1-2% of [pro-life] voters had stayed home.”

Dannenfelser told The Center Square that “it is very important to know that when Democrats claim Hyde protections already cover Obamacare, they are lying.” 

“If that were true when Obamacare was passed in 2010, we would not be in this position today,” Dannenfelser said. 

“Then-President Obama offered the fig leaf of an executive order in exchange for the votes of ‘pro-life’ Democrats for his signature agenda item, but it was no more than a gimmick and everyone knew that,” Dannenfelser said.

“The reality is that the Democrats craftily wrote the language of the law to evade the Hyde Amendment, a huge departure that resulted in the biggest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion since Roe v. Wade,” Dannenfelser said.

“When this betrayal was exposed, 15 House Democrats ran afoul of their constituents and ended up losing their seats in Congress,” Dannenfelser said.

“The consequences were far-reaching with the GOP gaining in battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin,” Dannenfelser said.

In response to Trump’s comment that Republicans should be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment as reported by the Daily Signal’s Elizabeth Mitchell, SBA Pro-Life America issued a press release stating that Hyde is “non-negotiable.”

“The pro-life movement has been very clear: No Hyde, no deal,” SBA said on X.