How A Spending Bill Without The Hyde Amendment Could Reshape Abortion Access

A House subcommittee just advanced a spending bill without the controversial policy in it for the first time in more than 40 years.

For the first time since the Hyde Amendment was introduced in 1976, the House advanced a spending bill without it this week, opening up the possibility of affordable abortion care for millions more people.  A subcommittee in the Democrat-controlled chamber voted Monday to move President Joe Biden’s spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services without the controversial amendment. It marked the first time in more than four decades that a provision banning the use of federal spending on most abortions ― a rule that’s made abortion inaccessible to the millions of women who receive health care through government-sponsored plans like Medicaid ― was excluded from the HHS budget proposal.  The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee, which is expected to give it clearance and advance it toward a full House vote. Though it’s unlikely to win Senate approval, pro-choice activists are celebrating the development in the House.