Senator Britt Protects Hyde Amendment, Holds Biden Administration Accountable for Radical Abortion Policy

‘Biden Administration has no red line when it comes to taking the life of an unborn child’

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 18, 2024 – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing this week questioned U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra on the Biden Administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 HHS Budget Request.

Senator Britt began her questioning by noting the absence of the Hyde Amendment from President Biden’s proposed FY25 HHS Budget. The Hyde Amendment has been included in annual appropriations legislation since 1977 and bars federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. Breaking with longstanding bipartisan norms, Secretary Becerra outright admitted to Senator Britt that President Biden “wants to remove the Hyde Amendment from the budget proposals, and that’s what he’s done.”

A proud champion for life, Senator Britt has fought to protect the Hyde Amendment, most recently, through her role on the Senate Appropriations Committee in the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations process.

This week,Senator Britt also pressed Secretary Becerra on the Biden Administration’s radical abortion policy, and highlighted their lack of a red line when it comes to taking the life of an unborn child. Secretary Becerra refused to state whether he would support a woman choosing to take the life of her child either a day before or a day after her due date.

A transcript of Senator Britt’s remarks can be found below:

BRITT: Thank you, Madam Chair, I appreciate it. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here today.

Obviously, we are here to talk about budgets. I’ve heard a lot of talk about abortion today, and in particular when I’m looking at your budget, obviously there was no mention of the Hyde Amendment to be in there. So, I want to confirm that you believe taxpayer dollars should go to be able to fund abortions.

BECERRA: Senator, thanks for the question. The President has made it clear he wants to remove the Hyde Amendment from the budget proposals, and that’s what he’s done.

BRITT: Ok. So, when we’re talking about that, Senator Kennedy asked you a question and y’all were talking about… your answer kept being ‘Roe v. Wade’ and ‘Roe v. Wade,’ and ‘I want that to be the law of the land.’ So, let’s just stipulate that your hypothetical is the truth.

If Roe v. Wade were the law of the land and a woman wanted to take the life of her child the day before her child was due, or the day after her child was due, then you support her ability to choose to do that? Is that correct?

BECERRA: Senator, again, I will say what I said…

BRITT: No. I’ve stipulated, Roe v. Wade is law of the land. So, there’s seven states in this country, and the District of Columbia, that allow you to take the life of a child the moment before a child is born. So clearly, you support a woman’s right to choose to do that.

BECERRA: Senator, the example you gave is fiction as far as I know. Can you give me a particular example?

BRITT: If it actually is fiction, then why not say ‘no, that, that’s out of the realm of possibility, that no woman would think to be able to do that?’ Because the truth is, if you say that taxpayer dollars should go to fund abortions, then you’re saying that my taxpayer dollars should go to fund something like that.

And if that’s unthinkable, then why don’t you just say it’s unthinkable, and in fact, then we can just take it off the table and not allow that to be legal? Because the truth is, when you do that, I’m going to read this to you: ‘In particular, when these abortions occur, the gruesome surgical techniques involve crushing, dismembering, and removal of the fetal body.’

So, they actually deliver the baby breech and then have to put scissors up the baby’s neck, open it up, and then suck out the brain, so that they’re able to get the head through the birth canal. Then there’s also the opportunity to go in and actually put a needle in that child’s heart and kill that child if that child is then delivered alive. Do you believe that that child on that table, that we should be able to save that child, or do you believe that our taxpayer dollars give this woman the right to say, ‘don’t save my child’?

I just think when we’re talking about this and you’re saying so boldly ‘no – taxpayer dollars go (to fund abortions)’, and you actually won’t answer the question when it comes to Roe v. Wade, and I’m saying, I’ll stipulate that your hypothetical is the case.

There are still seven states in this country and the District of Columbia that allow us to do that. We’re one of like seven nations that allow that to take place on our soil. Two of the other nations are North Korea and China.

And I just believe when we’re talking about budgets, I want you to know where I’m coming from and why I believe wholeheartedly, with every ounce of me, that we have to preserve the Hyde Amendment.

Video of Senator Britt’s line of questioning to Secretary Becerra can be found here, and high-quality video for media use can be downloaded here.

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