Hyde Amendment

Congressman Henry J. Hyde

The Hyde Amendment was introduced by Illinois Republican Congressman Henry J. Hyde and first passed by Congress in 1977, four years after Roe vs. Wade. Implementation of the initial amendment was blocked for almost a year by an injunction in the McRae v. Matthews case. During this case, the Reproductive Freedom Project, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Planned Parenthood collectively represented a pregnant Medicaid recipient and health care providers who challenged the Hyde Amendment. The United States Supreme Court vacated the injunction in August 1977, leading abortions financed by federal Medicaid to drop from 300,000 per year to a few thousand.[11] Other bans were modeled after the Hyde Amendment, extending to other annual spending bills in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This eventually led federal funds to be banned in federal worker health plans, women in federal prisons, women in the military, peace corps volunteers, and international family planning programs that use non-U.S. funds to perform or advocate for abortion.[3]

The Hyde Amendment has been re-enacted every year since 1976, but exceptions have varied.[3] For example, the 1978 Amendment presented new exceptions for rape survivors and incest cases.[11] In 1980, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the original Hyde Amendment language with a 5–4 vote in Harris v. McRae. The majority found that the Hyde Amendment did not violate the Establishment Clause under the First Amendment, or due process/equal protection provided by the [12].[13] This case decided the single exception for the Amendment would be in cases where the woman's life is endangered. This decision was upheld from fiscal years 1981–1993.[11] In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services of Missouri, the court held that states could also enact measures like the Hyde Amendment. President George H.W. Bush vetoed a bill with the added exceptions. This decision left the Amendment with the sole exception of concern being endangered life of the mother. The language was not altered until the Clinton Administration in 1993. At this time, the Hyde Amendment was once again expanded to include exceptions for rape and incest cases.[13][3]

In Williams v. Zbaraz (1980), the United States Supreme Court held that states could enact their own versions of the Hyde Amendment.[11]

As of 1994, federal law mandates all states to pay for abortion cases involving rape or incest.[11]

On January 24, 2017, the House voted to make the Hyde Amendment (H.R. 7) permanent. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) stated, "We are a pro-life Congress", and he re-affirmed the government's commitment to restricting tax money to funding abortions.[14] The bill failed to become law.[15]

Proponents of Hyde state that it is supported by 57% of the American public and opposed by 36%, as of 2016.[16] Critics say the Hyde Amendment disproportionately affects low-income women, women of color, younger women, and immigrants, as an estimated 42% of abortion recipients live below the poverty line.[17] Since the passage of the Hyde Amendment, more than one million women were not able to afford abortions.[18] 18 to 33 percent of Medicaid-eligible women who desire abortions have also given birth because they live in states that do not provide funding.[19][20]

The Hyde Amendment restricts abortion coverage for federally-funded health care recipients, specifically women enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid, Native American women, U.S. servicewomen and veterans, women in Peace Corps, federal employee families, D. C. women residents, and women in immigration detention facilities and prisons.[21] The Hyde Amendment does not preclude women who receive health care through the U.S. government the option of paying for the procedure out of pocket. According to a 2014 national survey of abortion patients, women in states without Medicaid coverage of abortion were three times as likely to pay for their abortions out of pocket, and five times as likely to rely on financial assistance from an abortion fund, compared to women in states with Medicaid coverage.[22]

States that fund abortions

  State funds abortions voluntarily

  State funds abortions under court order

17 states have a policy to use their own Medicaid funds to pay for abortion beyond the Hyde Amendment requirements, and an estimated 20% of abortions are paid through Medicaid.[23][24]

As of 2021, 16 states use their own state funds to pay for elective abortions and similar services, exceeding federal requirements.[25]

Consequently, the cutoff of federal Medicaid funds prompted some states to provide public funding for abortion services from their own coffers. Over time the number of states doing so has gradually expanded, either through legislation or consequent to judicial rulings.[26]

Specific stipulations have been put in place by some state governments. Some of these provisions remove restrictions that have been put in place at the federal level while others are used to further extend the reach that Hyde Amendment has put into place. For example, in Iowa, in order to receive an abortion under the Medicaid program, approval must be given from the governor.[27] In Iowa, Mississippi, and Virginia, a provision has been made for the case of fetal impairment.[27]

• Abortion in the United States
• Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, an amendment from 1973 that restricts US federal funding for abortion overseas
• Rosie Jimenez, the first woman known to have died due to an unsafe abortion after the Hyde Amendment was passed
• Types of abortion restrictions in the United States