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1 1 (July 20, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govehza0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informning Ih legisIative cI bat £since 1914 The Hyde Amendment: An Overview Updated July 20, 2022 The Hyde Amendment, named after its original congressional sponsor, Representative Henry J. Hyde, refers to annual funding restrictions that Congress has regularly included in the annual appropriations acts for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies (L-HHS-Ed). The most recently enacted version of the Hyde Amendment (P.L. 117-103. Div. H, §§ 506-507), applicable for fiscal year (FY) 2022, prohibits covered funds to be expended for any abortion or to provide health benefits coverage that includes abortion. This restriction, however, does not apply to abortions of pregnancies that are the result of rape or incest (rape or incest exception), or where a woman would be in danger of death if an abortion is not performed (life-saving exception). As a statutory provision included in annual appropriations acts, Congress can modify, and has modified, the Hyde Amendment's scope over the years, both as to the types of abortions and the sources of funding subject to this restriction. Covered Abortions All versions of the Hyde Amendment have included, at a minimum, the life-saving exception. The original FY1977 version of the Amendment (P.L. 94-439, § 209) included only the life-saving exception. The FY1979 version (P.L. 95-480, § 210) included three exceptions: (1) the life-saving exception; (2) a rape or incest exception, but only if the rape or incest had been reported promptly to a law enforcement agency or public health service; and (3) an exception for instances in which severe and long-lasting physical health damage to the mother would result if the pregnancy were carried to term, as determined by two physicians. Like the original version, between FY1981 and FY1993, the Amendment again generally included only the life- saving exception. For FY1994, the rape or incest exception, without a reporting requirement, was reintroduced to the Amendment. The scope of abortions subject to the Amendment has generally included these two exceptions since FY1994. Covered Funds As originally enacted for FY1977, the Hyde Amendment applied only to funds appropriated in the same act where the Hyde Amendment is found, i.e., the annual L-HHS-Ed appropriations act. Beginning in FY1999, the Hyde Amendment language has also included coverage of trust funds that receive a transfer from the annual L-HHS-Ed appropriations act. Where Congress has enacted an L-HHS-Ed appropriations act as a single division of a larger omnibus appropriations act, questions may arise regarding whether the Hyde Amendment's reference to funds appropriated in this Act includes funds appropriated in other divisions of the larger omnibus. Historically, such omnibus appropriations acts have included a prefatory provision specifying that any reference to 'this Act' contained in any division of this Act shall be treated as referring only to the provisions of that division. See, e.g., P.L. 117-103, § 3. Where such language is included with a version of the Hyde Amendment in an omnibus appropriations act, it will likely constrain the application of the Hyde Amendment to funds appropriated, or transferred, in the L-HHS-Ed division of the omnibus. Effect of the Hyde Amendment A significant effect of the Hyde Amendment is that it restricts federally funded abortions under major federal health care programs, such as Medicaid, a cooperative federal-state program that provides medical benefits assistance to low-income individuals, and Medicare, which provides health coverage not only for certain elderly individuals, but also certain disabled individuals under 65. Medicaid is covered by the Hyde Amendment because it is funded through appropriations made in the annual L-HHS- Ed appropriations act. Medicare is covered because it is financed from various trust funds that receive transfers from the same appropriations act. The Hyde Amendment also restricts abortion funding under other health programs funded through the L-HHS-Ed appropriations act, including certain community health centers that provide primary health services in underserved areas. Because the Hyde Amendment is a limitation on particular sources of funds, it does not apply to other sources of funds that may be available to a federal program. Some states have opted to cover abortions beyond the Hyde restrictions under their Medicaid programs using exclusively state funds. Similarly, the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice has concluded that the Hyde Amendment applied to those portions of student aid programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA) funded through the annual L-HHS-Ed appropriations act. However, it concluded that the Amendment did not limit the use of mandatory appropriations for such programs provided in the HEA itself. 45 Op. O.L.C.-(Jan. 16, 2021). Other Hydelike Provsions Although the Hyde Amendment does not generally apply to funding provided outside of the L-HHS-Ed appropriations act, programs with such funding may still be subject to Hyde-like restrictions on abortion. For example, the Hyde Amendment has been incorporated by statutory cross- reference to apply to the Indian Health Service, which provides health services to American Indians and Alaska

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