Tag Archive for: hyde amendment

New York’s Dem Governor Urges Biden To Use Military Bases For Abortions

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Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday urged the Biden administration to consider opening up military bases for abortions to women living in states that heavily restrict the procedure, ABC News reported.

Since military bases are considered federal lands, Hochul argued in a virtual meeting with President Joe Biden that federal law would allow them to override state bans, according to ABC. Her suggestion heeds widespread outcries from  Democratic politicians about loss of women’s rights following the Supreme Court’s decision on June 24 overturning Roe V. Wade.

“Veterans hospitals, military bases and other places where the federal government controls the jurisdiction in some of the states that are hostile to women’s rights” could “make sure that those services can be available to other women” not publicly employed, Hochul said, according to ABC.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, also in the meeting, floated the idea of using Indian Health Service clinics and tribal territory, where state law does not govern, as alternatives to private abortion facilities, ABC reported.

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren stated that the U.S. government should plant abortion facilities on the outskirts of national parks on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Sunday and in a Washington Post interview Monday.

Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday that “every option is on the table” regarding abortion access, but the agency would “have a conversation with the president to make sure we implement his directives”

The White House, while agreeing with the Democratic leaders on the supposed need for comprehensive reproductive healthcare availability for all, said on Tuesday putting abortion centers on government-owned property could have “dangerous ramifications.”

Currently, however, federal facilities, including military bases, can only perform abortions in the case of rape, incest or where the life of the mother is in danger due to the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions.

The House Appropriations Committee approved amendments to the fiscal year 2023 funding bill Thursday that would repeal the Hyde Amendment, allowing federal medical centers to perform abortions to the degree Congress decides, according to a press release.

“The bill eliminates the Hyde and Weldon amendments, a long-standing discriminatory policy that denied low-income women their legal right to an abortion,” the bill summary stated.

Hochul’s office and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

MICAELA BURROW

Contributor.

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Here’s Why The Government Can’t Set Up Abortion Clinics On Federal Land

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Despite demands from several prominent Democrats, the federal government is prohibited from using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.

The Hyde Amendment, first included in federal appropriations bills in 1976, prohibits the federal government from funding abortions unless “the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or where the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.” Activists estimate that the Hyde Amendment prevents at least 60,000 abortions every year.

The amendment is named for Republican Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who championed it.

Although support for the amendment was initially bipartisan, Democrats in recent years have attempted to pass federal budgets that do not include the provision. President Joe Biden flip-flopped on support for the amendment during his 2020 presidential campaign, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi attempted to jettison the provision for an early COVID-19 relief package. Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s demand that the Hyde Amendment be included in a social spending package was a key factor in the breakdown in Build Back Better negotiations.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, several Republican-controlled states instituted trigger laws limiting abortion. In response, prominent left-wing Democrats urged the Biden administration to take actions to protect abortion access in those states.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren both called on the federal government to make abortions available on federal lands like national parks, where state governments could not regulate the procedure.

Warren and Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith claimed in a New York Times op-ed that Biden could provide “federal resources for individuals seeking abortion care in other states” and use “federal property and resources to protect people seeking abortion services locally.” Warren also claimed that the administration could designate “federal lands as a place where abortions can occur.”

Ocasio-Cortez added that providing abortion services on federal lands is the “the babiest of the babiest of the baby steps” that the federal government can take.

Neither Warren nor Ocasio-Cortez responded to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on whether or not they believe that such actions would violate the Hyde Amendment.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre rejected the congressional Democrats’ suggestion Monday, but two cabinet members did suggest that they would use their agencies to promote abortion access.

“Nothing is more important to me or to this Department than the health and well-being of our Service members, the civilian workforce and DOD families,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a Friday statement shortly after the ruling. “I am committed to taking care of our people and ensuring the readiness and resilience of our Force.”

“The Department is examining this decision closely and evaluating our policies to ensure we continue to provide seamless access to reproductive health care as permitted by federal law,” he added.

When contacted for comment, a Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson cited a memorandum released Tuesday by Undersecretary of Defense Gilbert Cisneros. The memorandum stressed that the DOD will comply with the conditions laid out by the Hyde Amendment, and “will continue to follow existing departmental policy.”

Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra promised to “increase access” to abortifacients, claiming that his agency has been planning for “every action necessary to protect women’s access to reproductive healthcare.”

A spokesperson for HHS did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment on compliance with the Hyde Amendment.

AUTHOR

MICHAEL GINSBERG

Congressional reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.