By Dave Andrusko
Pro-abortion Democrats have always hated the Hyde Amendment. It sent a clear signal that taxpayer dollars would not go to underwrite elective abortions—a position supported for decades by opinion polls—and took away at least two million customers from the likes of Planned Parenthood—resulting in two million saved babies.
Writing at the pro-abortion site Vox.com, Anna North tells us that they received an advance copy of research published Wednesday in the Journal BMC Women’s Health. You could know the results ahead of time simply by looking at the authors—“ researchers at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a group at the University of California San Francisco.”
North tells us the study provides “up-to-date research on what actually happens to pregnant people when they want an abortion but their insurance won’t cover it.” The researchers “surveyed pregnant women in Louisiana on whether they had ever considered abortion. For those who considered the procedure but didn’t have one, researchers asked if lack of Medicaid coverage was part of the reason why.”
Not surprisingly, the answer is yes! North writes
“Based on the women’s responses, the researchers estimated that about 29 percent of Louisiana women who would have had an abortion if Medicaid covered the procedure instead chose to give birth. … They also estimated that lack of Medicaid coverage leads 3,000 women to give birth every year who would otherwise choose abortion.”
North notes, “Abortion opponents see preventing the procedure as a positive thing.” Ah, yes, millions of fewer dead babies is a good thing.
North’s second paragraph lays out the political dynamics:
A number of Democratic presidential candidates have called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal Medicaid funds from covering most abortions. Meanwhile, abortion opponents continue to speak out in favor of keeping Hyde and states like Ohio are moving to also restrict private insurance coverage of the procedure.
I’m not sure any of the 20+ Democratic presidential candidates have failed to call for a repeal of the Hyde Amendment. I am confident that if asked (as they likely will be in next week’s first debate), they will vow to do everything possible, if elected, to torpedo the Hyde Amendment.