The Hyde Amendment won't prevent tax-funded abortions in ObamaCare

Excerpt from an NRLC Emailed message  See also:Which side is fabricating?

WASHINGTON (September 8, 2009) -- The following statement may be attributed to Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), which is the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states.

Throughout his career as an Illinois state senator, a U.S. senator, and a presidential candidate, Barack Obama consistently opposed all limitations on government funding of elective abortion.  During his presidential campaign, he expressed explicit opposition to the Hyde Amendment, the annually renewed provision that prevents federal Medicaid funding of abortion (with narrow exceptions).

Media unable or unwilling to unravel deceptions Recently, some journalists have reported that Obama endorsed the concept that the government should not fund abortions. In an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, broadcast July 21, but Obama really did no such thing. Instead, he simply made a head fake -- an artful observation that "we also have a tradition of, in this town, historically, of not financing abortions as part of government funded health care."  Obama did not endorse the "tradition."  Certainly, it is true that there is such a tradition -- a tradition that Obama has always opposed, and which the Obama-backed health care bill would shatter.

There is another deception that is being widely employed -- again, with little critical scrutiny from the news media.  During the just-completed congressional recess, innumerable congressional Democrats told their constituents that the pending legislation would not result in government funding of abortion because the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding of abortion.  Here are two examples from the PhillyBurbs.com and The Marshall Tribune.

Hyde has a limited scope

In reality, the Hyde Amendment is not a government-wide law -- it applies only to funds appropriated through the annual appropriations bill that funds the Department of Health and Human Services.  As National Right to Life has pointed out for months, and as the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service confirmed in two memoranda issued in late August (which we now have obtained and posted on our website), none of the funds that would be expended by the public plan, and none of the funds that will subsidize the purchase of private insurance plans, will ever flow through an HHS appropriations bill.  Therefore, none of the funds will be covered by the Hyde Amendment.  Many Democratic lawmakers have directly misinformed their constituents by telling them that the Hyde Amendment will apply -- and, for the most part -- the news media have simply transmitted the misinformation, or actually adopted the false claim as fact.

Obama deceives with artful language

President Obama himself has made statements of artful indirection involving the Hyde Amendment, in addition to the Katie Couric interview referred to above.  For example, on August 20, 2009, Obama said at a health-care forum, "There are no plans under health reform to revoke the existing prohibition on using federal taxpayer dollars for abortions.

Nobody is talking about changing that existing provision, the Hyde Amendment.  Let's be clear about that.  It's just not true."  This statement was another trademark head fake by Obama.  It is true that the Obama-backed health bill does not directly revoke the Hyde Amendment -- and it is also entirely irrelevant, because Obama's congressional allies have carefully crafted the bill language to allow government funding of elective abortions using federal money that is not covered by the Hyde Amendment. 

Read the details that reveal the truth 

On September 3, NRLC issued a memorandum that explains in detail why the funds in question will not be affected by the Hyde Amendment.  The NRLC memo quotes from, and links to, two new Congressional Research Service memoranda, and other official documents. 

The paragraph titles were added by MCCL.

See also:Which side is fabricating?