Speaking during an event with NBC News over the weekend, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra admitted the agency is using taxpayer money to help women obtain abortions in states where the procedure is still legal. When asked by the moderator if his actions were against the law, he laughed and avoided answering the question because the event was "being recorded."
WATCH: HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra tells NBC News he's considering providing taxpayer funded transportation for out-of-state abortions.
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 27, 2022
NBC NEWS: "Can you do that legally?"
SEC. BECERRA: [laughs] "Talk to me later...I would tell you if, uh—you're recording so I wont tell you." pic.twitter.com/jYixs66aGb
Under the Hyde Amendment it is illegal for the federal government to user taxpayer money to fund abortions.
Hyde Amendment Codification Act - Prohibits the expenditure for any abortion of funds authorized or appropriated by federal law or funds in any trust fund to which funds are authorized or appropriated by federal law .
Prohibits the use of federal funds for any health benefits coverage that includes abortion. (Currently, federal funds cannot be used for abortion services, and plans receiving federal funds must keep them segregated from any funds for abortion services.)
Excludes from such prohibitions an abortion if: (1) the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest; or (2) the woman suffers from a physical disorder, injury, or illness, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, that would place her in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, as certified by a physician.
Becerra, who has no medical experience, has a history of abortion radicalism. He supports late term and partial birth procedures.
During his time as California Attorney General, Becerra sued the Little Sisters of the Poor and worked to force them into violating their religious beliefs.