Hiding Behind Hyde Through the long struggle between the cultures of life and death, the Hyde Amendment has been propped up by both sides as the real field of battle. Many pro-life politicians speak with great aplomb about the need to codify Hyde into law because it supposedly bans the use of federal funds for abortion, while pro-abortion politicians shriek that Hyde deprives women of their "right to an abortion." The fact of the matter is that Hyde does neither of these things, and does almost nothing but offer a smokescreen for the real problem. Above all else, the Hyde Amendment does allow federal funds to pay for abortions because it has exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother written into it. So, anyone who claims that it is illegal to use federal funds to pay for abortion because of Hyde is either lying or ignorant. [ Read the full article here. ] |