Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas on Thursday introduced his first piece of legislation that has a focus on abortion.
The Protecting Life in Crisis Act would extend provisions from the Hyde Amendment, the law passed every year that generally prevents federal funds from being spent on abortion services, to any funds designated for coronavirus relief and response.
It would also prohibit the use of federal tax credits on COBRA post-employment healthcare premiums that include abortion coverage.
“Being pro-life is just part of who I am and there is no other alternative. As an obstetrician, it’s been a thrill of my life to get to bring thousands of babies into the world and now it’s a thrill of my life to be in the U.S. Senate and continue the fight for pro-life policies,” Marshall said in a statement.
Eight other Republican senators co-sponsored the legislation: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Steve Daines of Montana, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, and fellow Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran.
A companion bill was introduced in the House earlier this month by Texas Republican Rep. Brian Babin and has 101 co-sponsors.
Earlier this week, 200 House Republicans, nearly the entire caucus, signed a letter signaling their opposition to any funding bill that does not include Hyde Amendment prohibitions on federal funds being used on abortions.
With Democratic control of the House, Senate, and White House, the party is moving to eliminate the Hyde Amendment. In December, Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the chairwoman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, dubbed the Hyde Amendment a “discriminatory policy” and said that the current government funding year would be the “last year” that the Hyde Amendment remains law.
President Biden was a longtime supporter of the Hyde Amendment, but he reversed his position early during his presidential campaign in a highly scrutinized flip-flop-flip in 2019.
During the Biden administration’s first White House press briefing last week, press secretary Jen Psaki dodged a question on whether Biden supports the Hyde Amendment.
“I will just take the opportunity to remind all of you that he is a devout Catholic and somebody who attends church regularly. He started his day attending church with his family this morning,” Psaki said. “But I don’t have anything more for you on that.”
