It's been a busy week for the Biden administration's pro-abortion policies. As Spencer covered, the Department of Defense (DoD) on Thursday announced it would be promoting abortion for service members with taxpayer funds. This is after President Joe Biden on Tuesday made clear that expanding Roe v. Wade with the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) is his priority next Congress. The DoD's announcement, as well as past and future actions the administration has taken, raises potential concerns to do with violating the Hyde Amendment, which protects taxpayers from having to fund elective abortions.
Biden made remarks in a NowThis video from Tuesday that raises even more concerns about the Hyde Amendment. The video will air on Sunday, but Axios' Sarah Fischer provided a preview, also on Thursday.
As Fischer's report lays out:
Details: Biden was responding to a question from Danielle Mathisen, a 26-year-old medical resident, who noted that some companies have begun helping their workers pay for abortions and asked whether Biden would support federal funding for the same services.
- "The answer is absolutely ... I do support that, and I've publicly urged companies to do that. I've urged them publicly as president of the United States saying, 'This is what you should be doing," he said.
- "I urge you to do it because there's so many, and imagine the women who need that kind of assistance, but have no money at all to be able to do this. None. How, how — what do they do? They don't have the option," Biden said.
While Fischer's report doesn't mention if the Hyde Amendment was brought up at all, President Joe Biden's executive order from August on travel funds for federal employees already raised concerns when it comes to violating Hyde. The administration has remained coy, with Spencer's report on the DoD's latest move also mentioning how Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in June chillingly laughed and didn't answer questions on taxpayer funding because the event was "being recorded."
What comments are available from the NowThis video sound very much like a direct violation, though, as he promotes using federal funding for women who wouldn't otherwise have the money to abort their unborn children.
In a statement for Townhall, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has been a vocal pro-life senator and proponent of protecting the Hyde Amendment and unborn life, said that "President Biden and Democrats believe taxpayer funded abortion up until the moment of birth is a constitutional right. That is crazy. We should do everything we can to protect human life, not using taxpayer dollars to end it." Sen. Rubio's press office also tweeted on Thursday that he plans to introduce legislation to block the DoD's move.
Pro-life groups were also quick to express their opposition.
"President Biden and the Democrats’ one-note strategy of promoting abortion on demand until birth won’t prevent them from losing Congress. The White House even refused to condemn Stacey Abrams’ abhorrent view that the inflation crisis justifies ending the lives of unborn children," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. "Every Democratic candidate must tell the voters if he or she agrees with forcing unlimited abortion at any point in pregnancy, paid for by taxpayers, on all 50 states. Biden’s radical agenda is not in line with the majority of Americans who support limits on abortion, including limits on brutal late-term abortions when unborn babies can feel pain."
March for Life President Jeanne Mancini also weighed in. "It is heartbreaking to see President Biden is so obsessed with abortion on demand that he is willing to use American tax dollars to push for more abortion rather than offering federal funding for lifesaving options offered by pro-life organizations and maternity homes around the country," she said. "Polling shows that a strong majority of Americans — including a majority of Democrats — support federal funding for pregnancy resource centers and maternity homes that provide women with tangible resources to choose life. Sadly, President Biden not only ignores the attacks on these live saving organizations but is silent while members of his party attempt to shut them down."
CatholicVote tweeted out a thread sharing their concerns as well.
Using tax dollars to fund abortion is already deeply unpopular. This is much worse. Biden opposed and regularly voted against it. He wrote in 1994: “Those of us who are opposed to abortions should not be compelled to pay for them.” He was right then, and shameless wrong today.
— CatholicVote.org (@CatholicVote) October 20, 2022
His answer? Divide the country further, coercing even religious Americans into paying, not just for abortion, but for time off work to undergo the grisly procedure -- a gross violation of the deeply held beliefs of millions of Americans.
— CatholicVote.org (@CatholicVote) October 20, 2022
Biden's current steadfast opposition to the Hyde Amendment, as well as the opposition of most Democrats in office, makes this video even more concerning. Despite having supported Hyde for most of his political career, even bragging as a senator in a letter how he supported stricter limits on exceptions, Biden came out in June 2019 against Hyde, while running in the crowded Democratic presidential primary.
In both his budget proposals for FY 2022 and 2023, Biden purposefully left out the Hyde Amendment, which has passed every year since 1976 with bipartisan support. Despite the fight they put up and continue to put up, Democrats ultimately caved when it comes to getting rid of Hyde in March of this year, and it remains federal policy, for now at least.
The president traveled to Pittsburgh on Thursday to make remarks for infrastructure and campaign for John Fetterman, who is running against Dr. Mehmet Oz to replace retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA).
While he was not asked specifically about his comments made for the NowThis video, he was asked in a press gaggle on his way to Marine One "should there be restrictions on abortion at all," to which he replied in the affirmative, though he has indicated no such support for any specific restrictions. In fact, his answer, which also indicated they're "in Roe v. Wade," caused further confusion. "Read it, man. You’ll get educated," he told the reporter before departing.
Biden and pro-abortion Democrats in support of the WHPA have claimed that the bill would merely codify Roe, but it would actually expand it, as Guy has helpfully explained. In addition to involving taxpayer funded abortions, the bill would also invalidate pro-life laws passed at the state level.
During Tuesday's press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was similarly unable to give a clear answer when it came to Biden's stance on abortion restrictions, and how it also appeared that the president was prioritizing abortion over inflation.
Furthering this administration's particular obsession with promoting abortion, Thursday was also a day in which members of the administration held a meeting with state legislative leaders that the White House described as being "on reproductive rights."
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