When activists gather for the annual March for Life abortion protest in January, they plan to focus on the Hyde Amendment, which has recently prompted a skirmish in the abortion wars.
March for Life President Jeanne Manchini announced Thursday her group’s 2017 theme will be “The Power of One,” saying a rally held every year before the march will focus on Hyde, a longstanding federal provision that prevents taxpayer funds from going to abortion.
Mancini said the goal is to send a message to the president, whether it’s Republican Donald Trump, who has said he would try to make Hyde permanent, or Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has advocated for getting rid of it.
“The March for Life is going to be literally one week after the inauguration, so it’s going to be a very particular moment,” she said at a briefing Thursday.
Congress has attached Hyde to spending provisions since the 1970s, ensuring public dollars can be spent on abortions only in cases of rape, incest or if the woman’s life is in danger. It has been a rare area of agreement on how public policy should be applied to the contentious issue.
But Democrats have started pushing to get rid of the amendment, saying it hurts poor women by forcing them to pay out of pocket for abortions. Clinton has advocated on the campaign trail for ditching Hyde, and for the first time, the party’s platform this year called for getting rid of it.
Trump, despite supporting abortion rights most of his life, has signed a letter promising that as president, he would back legislation making Hyde permanent, so lawmakers don’t have to keep attaching it to spending bills.
In the past, the Republican-led House has passed such legislation around the time of the March for Life, to draw extra attention to the issue. Mancini said lawmakers are considering holding another such vote around the 2017 march, but said no decisions have been made.
“There are so many moving pieces in terms of what things are going to look like in January,” she said.
