All the 476 Democrats running for president seem to support doing away with the Hyde Amendment. Joe Biden, as you remember, flipped his position in the face of the unhinged abortion supporters in his party. But…
Democrats back down on striking anti-abortion language from spending bill
House Democrats who were eager to try to remove decades-old anti-abortion language from a spending bill have backed down on the push.
Democratic leaders rejected an effort by progressives to amend a House spending bill with a provision that would strip out the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer funding of abortions.
“I think we don’t have the votes that we need,†Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who sponsored the amendment, said. “It’s frustrating. I actually think the country is with us.â€
Jayapal and other progressive Democrats acknowledged the move to eliminate the 43-year-old Hyde language would be blocked in the GOP-led Senate and would never be signed into law by President Trump.
Removing the Hyde language from the $190 billion Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill would only serve to jeopardize passage of the measure, which funds critical health and labor programs, they said.
Jayapal might want to check the polls if she thinks the country is with her
In every poll, a plurality of Americans oppose public funding of abortions. In every poll but one, that plurality is a majority. The questions vary, but the result is the same. Respondents support “banning federal funding for abortion†except in rape cases or to save the woman’s life (Politico/Morning Consult, 2019). They believe that “government health insurance programs for low-income women, like Medicaid,†should not “cover abortion†(PRRI, 2018). They oppose “using tax dollars to pay for a woman’s abortion†(Marist, 2019). They oppose allowing “Medicaid funds to be used to pay for abortions†(Politico/Harvard, 2016). When they’re told that “the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used to fund abortions, except in the case of incest, rape or to save the life of the mother,†they endorse the amendment (YouGov, 2016). These polls aren’t close. The average gap between the pro-funding and anti-funding positions is 19 percentage points.
Even among Democrats, it’s just barely a majority position
Self-identified Democrats support federal abortion funding, but the margins are narrow. In a 2017 Marist poll, Democrats favored the use of tax dollars for abortions by 8 percentage points. In the Morning Consult poll, which was taken last weekend, they opposed the Hyde Amendment by 6 points. In the YouGov poll, they opposed the ban by just 3 points. A pro-funding position, on balance, probably does more to hurt the candidate in a general election than to help in a Democratic primary.
In effect, having Government pay for an abortion because people were irresponsible in having unprotected sex with someone they didn’t want to have a baby with at this time is not particularly a popular position.
And, really, if it’s “my body my choice”, then it should be “your body, your money.” You want contraceptives, abortifacients, and/or an abortion? Pay for it yourself. Don’t require that taxpayers fund your bad decisions.
Setting aside the fact that abortion is a murderous, dirty stinking procedure, it is also an optional procedure. Other than a few medical emergencies, abortion is as optional as rhinoplasty or a boob job. Should the taxpayers be on the hook for plastic surgery?
Medicare, which is certainly public funding of health care, doesn’t cover dentistry, something which is very much not optional, not if you want to keep your teeth, and it is well-established medical fact — settled science, as one of your frequent commenters would put it — that losing your teeth has a significantly negative impact on your health. Dental care is necessary; abortion is not.
Americans of common sense — a category of people which excludes liberals — understand that.