Fifty years after Congress first adopted the Hyde Amendment, lawmakers are marking the anniversary of one of the nation’s longest-standing protections against federal taxpayer funding for abortion.

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Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma introduced a resolution Friday honoring the amendment’s legacy and calling for its continued support. The resolution credits the Hyde Amendment with protecting more than 2.6 million unborn children since its adoption in 1976.

From The Daily Wire:

“For 50 years, the Hyde Amendment has been an important protection for American taxpayers. Every child is valuable. No American should ever wonder if the check they’re sending to the IRS on April 15 will be used to pay for someone’s elective abortion,” Lankford told The Daily Wire. “Hyde was a bipartisan agreement five decades ago, and it has been included in appropriations bills every year since. We should keep that commitment in place.”

The resolution says its purpose is to recognize the Hyde Amendment’s “enduring legacy of saving the lives of more than 2,600,000 unborn children and respecting the conscience rights of the American people.” It adds that it wants to “encourage the people of the United States to reflect upon the history and significance of the Hyde Amendment and the loss of 63,000,000 babies through abortions that have taken place since Roe v. Wade.”

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced a companion resolution in the House.

The Hyde Amendment dates to 1976, three years after Roe v. Wade. Named for former Illinois Rep. Henry Hyde, the provision has been included in annual appropriations legislation for decades, generally barring federal funds covered by the measure from paying for abortions except in specified circumstances. Hyde defended the provision as a way to prevent the federal government from financing abortion, saying at the time that lawmakers seeking to protect unborn children wanted to “inhibit the use of federal funds to pay for and thus encourage abortion.”

Although Roe was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, the debate over taxpayer funding for abortion has continued. Democrats have pushed in recent years to remove Hyde protections, while Republican lawmakers have sought to preserve and expand them. President Donald Trump raised questions earlier this year when he said Republicans needed to be “a little flexible on Hyde,” but his administration has also taken executive action to enforce restrictions on federal abortion funding.

The issue has taken on renewed significance following a Government Accountability Office report requested by Lankford and other congressional leaders. According to Lankford’s office, the GAO found that 1,719 Affordable Care Act plans available in 2026 included elective abortion coverage and covered an estimated 4.4 million people. Lankford argues that the ACA’s funding structure does not adequately protect taxpayers with moral objections to abortion and has called for stronger enforcement of separate-payment requirements.

The Hyde Amendment’s 50th anniversary highlights a principle that has endured through dramatic changes in American abortion law: Americans should not be compelled through their taxes to participate in ending unborn life. As lawmakers debate Hyde’s future, let’s pray that our leaders will recognize the God-given value of every human life, protect the unborn, and respect the consciences of Americans who do not want their tax dollars funding abortion.

Share your prayers for the protection of unborn life below.

(Excerpt from The Daily Wire. Photo Credit: Valeriia Svietlova/Pexels)