The Hyde Amendment

The amendment to the appropriations bill for Labour, Health, Education and Welfare; The 'Hyde Amendment'

In 1976, Republican Congressman Henry Hyde introduced legislation to the house that would prohibit the use of taxpayers’ dollars to fund abortions. This came in the form of ‘Medicaid’, the program which provides poor Americans with healthcare coverage. The bill which would become known as the ‘Hyde Amendment’ was passed in 1977 and was attached to the funding bill for the Departments of Labour, Health and Human Services, continuing every year since.[9] Hyde's bill received many challenges arguing it was discriminatory against the poor. The bill was altered and finalized in 1980, allowing Medicaid funding for abortion in cases of rape, incest, of a life-threatening circumstance to the mother. 

Henry Hyde (R-IL) Speaking at the 1987 National Right to Life Convention.

The Hyde Amendment effectively limited the number of abortions per year. Prior to the Hyde Amendment in 1977, 294,600 abortions were paid for by Medicaid, following the Hyde Amendment in 1978 only 2,500 abortions were covered by the federal government.[10] The Hyde Amendment is viewed by scholars as the key victory of the pro-life movement in the 1970s, of which both the NRLC and the AUL played a pivotal role.

Acting as an Umbrella organization, the NRLC’s role is hard to measure but It is no doubt the organization's work contributed to the initial passing of the bill. The Hyde Amendment embodied the idea of incrementally restricting abortion that the NRLC had become known for touting. The NRLC did take a more active role in politics in 1977 with the creation of the NRL-PAC and contributed to the Hyde Amendments defence. In the 1978 midterms, pro-life PAC’s targeted the ‘dirty dozen’, twelve liberal pro-choice Democratic members of Congress. By 1980, NRL-PAC proudly reported that forty-fourth senators and 75% of congress members opposed abortion.[11]

This article describes the beginning of the debate over the Hyde Amendment at the Supreme Court. It mentions the AUL representing Hyde. 

The AUL took a much more active role in the Hyde Amendment. Not only had the AUL advised the Poelker V Doe case which set the groundwork for Hyde, the AUL defended the Hyde Amendment in the Supreme court in 1980 with McRae v Harris. Cora McRae attempted to argue that the Hyde Amendment was discriminatory against poor women. [12]The AUL ultimately finished triumphant, with the court ruling a women’s right to abortion was not abridged by denying funding for Medicaid. The AUL had successfully defended Hyde from being overturned.