Hyde Amendment again a point of debate within Democratic Party

More progressive feminists think its removal a key component of reproductive justice agenda

Democratic Party leadership has long resisted attempts to include a plank on its presidential platform to eliminate the Hyde Amendment. Adopting such a position was considered politically unfeasible for many, including former presidents. 

Now, many within liberalism have begun pushing for its removal again. According to a new book, The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution, by Ryan Grim, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez rubbed against major reproductive rights leadership when she tried to eliminate it in the Spring of 2019. 

This week, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed biennial budget includes language that would remove coverage for Virginians eligible for Medicaid to end pregnancies with severe fetal diagnoses, like anencephaly, in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. 

If the final budget includes this language, Virginians with low incomes will be forced to carry pregnancies fraught with suffering. Virginia denies state funding to Medicaid-eligible pregnant people who seek an abortion except in cases of rape, incest, when their life is at risk, and in cases of incapacitating fetal diagnoses, according to a news release. This budget would strike fetal diagnoses from this list, interfering with low-income Virginians’ fundamental right to make decisions about their health and family. This is the second time anti-abortion Governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed this cruel budget language. Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, spoke about it afterward.

“If this funding is cut, low-income Virginians will be the ones having to go without access to the life-saving health care they need. Governor Youngkin thinks Virginians with low incomes should be forced to carry pregnancies fraught with suffering. Shame on him.” 

I’ve also written about this recently. Michigan recently passed a series of bills that advanced reproductive rights, but lawmakers came up short when attempting to get Medicaid to pay for abortions. What sank the effort was the lack of support coming from certain Democrats. State Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, voted against it, believing the funding either went toward that or care for the elderly. Pohutsky said it wasn’t mutually exclusive. 

An Economic Policy Institute Report released at the beginning of this year underscores the connection between financial limitations and abortion bans in states that enact them.  Asha Banerjee was the author of the analysis. She pointed out how abortion inaccessibility can lead to greater poverty, which in turn can lead to over-incarceration as more people commit crimes caused by the lack of money and poor living conditions. 

“The human argument is also the economic argument,”  Banerjee told me in January. “And in taking away abortion access from other people who might seek an abortion, it takes away their ability to make their own choices in the economy.” 

Former president Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13535 in March 2010. It reinforced a commitment to the preservation of the Hyde Amendment's policy restricting federal funds for abortion within the context of recent health care legislation. Both antiabortion leaders and abortion rights leaders criticized him for the move. 

Hillary Clinton was among the few national politicians who opposed the Hyde Amendment. In 2016’s presidential primary, she called for its repeal.  

“Any right that requires you to take extraordinary measures to access it is no right at all,” Clinton said. “And not as long as we have laws on the book like the Hyde amendment making it harder for low-income women to exercise their full rights.”

For his part, President Joe Biden opposed the repeal of the Hyde Amendment. Vice President Kamala Harris called for its repeal during her presidential campaign in 2019. 

Harris recently announced the launch of the Reproductive Freedoms Tour, which will be a campaign she leads in swing states pushing for abortion access and rights. It’s unclear whether opposition to the Hyde Amendment will be something they push for on the campaign trail. Since they don’t have to run a primary campaign, it changes the political calculus for their rhetoric and messaging. 

I’ll write about this issue more extensively in the coming months as several leaders I’ve spoken to have called for its removal.