Attorney General Chris Carr and 21 other state attorneys general wrote to congressional leaders on Monday urging Congress to maintain the Hyde Amendment in the 2022 budget. The amendment, which prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions, was conspicuously removed by the Biden Administration despite its inclusion in federal budgets for the last forty-five years.
“Nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, as President Biden did for decades,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “He only recently changed his position while on the campaign trail, yet is prepared to impose his newfound opinion on the rest of the country at the first opportunity. We are urging Congress to restore the Hyde Amendment into the budget it ultimately passes.”
In their letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the attorneys general called on Congress to resist the president’s efforts to force taxpayers who object to abortions to pay for them.
The Hyde Amendment was first enacted in 1976 following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, and has been reenacted every year since with broad bipartisan support. The coalition’s letter asks Congress to resist following President Biden down this path and instead maintain the Hyde Amendment in the budget it ultimately passes. The key to the Hyde Amendment’s four-and-a-half-decades longevity is that its purpose is clear and commonsensical: it prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions (with exceptions) because a great many taxpayers object to abortion on moral or religious grounds and, therefore, it is unconscionable to force them to pay for abortions by using their tax dollars for that purpose.
Alabama led this coalition. In addition to Alabama and Georgia, attorneys general form the following states also joined the coalition: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
