PHOENIX – Attorney General Mark Brnovich and 21 other state attorneys general wrote to congressional leaders on Monday, urging Congress to maintain the Hyde Amendment in the 2022 budget. The amendment, prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortions, was conspicuously removed by the Biden Administration despite its inclusion in federal budgets for the last forty-five years. The letter was led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.
In their letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, General Brnovich and the coalition called on Congress to resist the president’s efforts to force taxpayers who object to abortions to pay for them.
The letter states:
“The Hyde Amendment was first enacted in 1976 following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, and has been reenacted every year since with broad bipartisan support. The key to the Hyde Amendment’s four-and-a-half-decades longevity is that its purpose is clear and commonsensical: it prohibits the use of federal funds for abortions (with exceptions), on the basis that a great many taxpayers object to abortion on moral or religious grounds and, therefore, it is unconscionable to force them to pay for abortions by using their tax dollars for that purpose. Congress should resist following President Biden down this path and should instead maintain the Hyde Amendment language in the budget it ultimately passes."
In addition to AG Brnovich, the letters signers include attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.