[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 148 (Thursday, September 29, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TWO MILLION AMERICANS ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE OF THE HYDE AMENDMENT

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 28, 2016

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, Friday September 30 marks 40 
years since the life-saving Hyde Amendment was first enacted. This 
annual appropriations amendment stops taxpayer dollars from being used 
to fund most abortions and abortion coverage through government 
programs like Medicaid.
  Thanks to new analysis by the Charlotte Lozier Institute we now know 
that as many as 2 million children--some obviously much older now--are 
alive today because of the Hyde amendment.
  Prior to enactment of Hyde, the Medicaid program paid for about 
300,000 abortions annually. Research, including by the pro-abortion 
Guttmacher Institute, has long shown that stopping taxpayer funded 
abortion reduces the abortion rate. In an analysis released just this 
week, the Charlotte Lozier Institute estimates that the Hyde amendment 
saves as many as 60,000 lives each year.
  I remember the day several years ago when my friend and author of the 
amendment, Henry Hyde of Illinois, first learned that about one million 
children were alive because of his amendment. He was overcome with joy 
knowing that a million mothers were spared the agony of post abortion 
pain, a million children were alive and well, growing up, going to 
school, playing sports, dating, marrying and having kids of their own. 
Today that number is estimated at two million--all because abortion 
subsidies have been prohibited by law.
  Since the first bitter and protracted battles over this policy, the 
Hyde amendment has generally, if begrudgingly, been accepted as the 
status quo. President Bill Clinton--who supported partial-birth 
abortion--and President Barack Obama--who pledged to veto a bill 
protecting children born alive after abortion, both consistently signed 
the Hyde amendment into law.
  Yet Hillary Clinton represents a new era of pro-abortion extremism.
  Not only does she fall in party line with her opposition to the Pain-
Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the ban on sex selection abortion, 
and the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, she will have an 
abortion litmus-test for every judge and justice. And in a new assault 
on innocent human life, she has vowed to decimate the Hyde Amendment 
and fund abortion on demand using taxpayer dollars.
  In 1980 the Hyde amendment narrowly overcame a constitutional 
challenge in a 5-4 Supreme Court decision. If Hillary Clinton appoints 
just one justice, the Hyde amendment will be nullified.
  Hillary Clinton is outside of the mainstream. Today, more Americans 
support the sanctity of life and oppose taxpayer funding for abortions 
than ever.
  An ever-growing majority in America believes that our government 
should not fund abortion. A July 2016 Marist poll found that nearly 
two-thirds of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortion--including 
45% of those who identify as ``pro-choice.''
  The Hyde Amendment is not extreme. Hillary Clinton is.
  Hillary Clinton is so extreme and outside the mainstream that when 
MSNBC's Chuck Todd asked her in an April 3rd interview: ``When, and if, 
does an unborn child have constitutional rights?'' Hillary Clinton 
fired back: ``unborn persons don't have constitutional rights . . .'' 
Clinton acknowledges that unborn children are persons, but denies them 
their right to life and wants taxpayers to pay for their destruction.
  When Hillary Clinton was awarded the Margaret Sanger award by Planned 
Parenthood in 2009, she said she was ``in awe'' of Margaret Sanger, the 
infamous founder of Planned Parenthood. Shockingly its American 
affiliate alone claims responsibility for the death of over seven 
million babies.
  In her 2009 speech Clinton also said she admired Sanger for her 
vision and that Sanger's work here in the United States and across the 
globe was not done. ``Not done'' means more abortions, paid for by the 
taxpayer, and an end to conscience rights for those who don't agree.
  If we lose the Hyde Amendment our country will be carrying out 
Sanger's eugenic legacy--incentivizing the destruction of the poor and 
vulnerable by paying for their death.
  There are nearly 60 million Americans missing from 43 years of legal 
abortion. 60 million lives with potential that have been snuffed out by 
state-sanctioned killing.
  Let's be clear. Hillary Clinton poses an existential threat to the 
welfare and wellbeing of unborn children and their mothers in the 
United States and around the world.
  Rather than expand the culture of death and shred the Hyde 
amendment--as Hillary Clinton promises--women and men of conscience 
have a duty to protect the weakest and most vulnerable from the 
violence of abortion.

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