Pro-Abortion U.S. Reps. Want to Repeal Pro-Life Hyde Amendment

Pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood and the Guttmacher Institute are teaming up with liberal members of Congress in calling for the repeal of the pro-life Hyde Amendment in 2021.

The Hyde Amendment is a provision in the federal budget that prevents Americans from being forced to fund abortion procedures with their tax dollars. It contains exceptions for cases of rape or incest or when the mother’s life or physical health are in jeopardy.

Every year since 1976 Congress has attached some version of the Hyde Amendment to the federal budget to prevent taxpayer-funded abortion.

But Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D – Connecticut), the newly elected chair of the House Appropriations Committee in Congress, says the Hyde Amendment will not appear on next year’s budget in the U.S. House.

Several pro-abortion groups — including Planned Parenthood and Guttmacher Institute — have issued statements supporting removal of the pro-life Hyde Amendment from the federal budget.

Here’s the truth:

Public opinion polling has shown again and again that Americans don’t want to pay for abortions with their tax dollars.

For years the Hyde Amendment was viewed as a reasonable compromise between pro-life and pro-abortion congressmen, but it’s clear that pro-abortion groups no longer see it that way.

Without the Hyde Amendment, even if you don’t support abortion and you don’t have an abortion, you could still be forced to pay for an abortion with your taxes.

Arkansas Lottery Rolls Out More Scratch-Off Games

Last week the Arkansas Lottery rolled out four new lines of scratch-off tickets selling for anywhere from $1 to $10 each.

We have written time and again about how scratch-off tickets prey on the poor and desperate.

A 2015 study in Canada found a link between problem gambling and instant lottery tickets, writing,

It is possible that problem gamblers are more attracted to instant win tickets than lottery tickets because instant win tickets provide immediate feedback. Some authors have even described instant win tickets as “paper slot machines” (Griffiths, 2002). Therefore, instant win tickets might be considered a more exciting form of lottery gambling, which may help explain why it attracts a different type of gambler than [ordinary] lottery tickets do. 

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions also found a link between how often a person played scratch-off tickets and the severity of a person’s gambling problem.

Despite all of this, the Arkansas Lottery continues to roll out new scratch-off tickets every month and budgets nearly 71% of its revenue for prizes in an ongoing effort to prop up lottery ticket sales.