My pro-choice congresswoman, Lois Capps, authored an amendment (the Capps Amendment) very early on reaffirming the Hyde Amendment in an attempt to keep the abortion war out of this health care bill. It was a vain attempt, but that's not her fault.
The Hyde Amendment is NOT a good law, but it IS the law and has been since 1976. It says that Roe vs. Wade may make abortion legal, but the federal government doesn't have to pay for the procedure. That, in essence, is all.
The Capps Amendment says, in essence, So Be It.
IIRC, if Stupak gets his deal with Obama, in essence it will say, So Be It.
No matter how much Stupak and the Repubs lie about it, the HCR bill does not open the floodgates to the federal government paying for abortions. The big, huge, compromise that everyone Left and Right is screeching about: is to let the 1976 law stand.
Hekate
As of 2004, the ACLU had this to say about it
>>> Passed by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment excludes abortion from the comprehensive health care services provided to low-income people by the federal government through Medicaid. Congress has made some exceptions to the funding ban, which have varied over the years. At present, the federal Medicaid program mandates abortion funding in cases of rape or incest, as well as when a pregnant woman's life is endangered by a physical disorder, illness, or injury.
>>>
>>> Most states have followed the federal government's lead in restricting public funding for abortion. Currently only seventeen states fund abortions for low-income women on the same or similar terms as other pregnancy-related and general health services. (See map.) Four of these states provide funding voluntarily (HI, MD, NY,1 and WA); in thirteen, courts interpreting their state constitutions have declared broad and independent protection for reproductive choice and have ordered nondiscriminatory public funding of abortion (AK, AZ, CA, CT, IL, MA, MN, MT, NJ, NM, OR, VT, and WV).2 Thirty-two of the remaining states pay for abortions for low-income women in cases of life-endangering circumstances, rape, or incest, as mandated by federal Medicaid law.3 (A handful of these states pay as well in cases of fetal impairment or when the pregnancy threatens "severe" health problems, but none provides reimbursement for all medically necessary abortions for low-income women.) Finally, one state (SD) fails even to comply with the Hyde Amendment, instead providing coverage only for lifesaving abortions.
>>>
>>> Additional provisions adopted by Congress may further burden access to abortion services for Medicaid recipients, even those in states with nondiscriminatory funding. The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, for example, permits health maintenance organizations (HMOs) serving Medicaid recipients to refuse to cover counseling or referral for services, such as abortion, to which the HMO objects on moral or religious grounds. As a result, even in states with nondiscriminatory funding, women seeking abortions may face obstacles in even finding a provider.
http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/public-funding-abortion
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