Executive Order Ends Federal Funding for Elective Abortions
- By Renee Dustman
- In Billing
- January 30, 2025
- Comments Off on Executive Order Ends Federal Funding for Elective Abortions
On Jan. 24, President Donald Trump signed the Executive Order “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment,” renewing his efforts to put the onus of abortions on states. Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Dr. Dorothy Fink supported the president’s actions in a statement:
“Pursuant to the President’s Executive Order … and guidance from Office of Management and Budget, the Department will reevaluate all programs, regulations, and guidance …,” Fink said.
What Is the Hyde Amendment?
In its current form, the Hyde Amendment provides that no federal funds “shall be expended for any abortion” or “for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion” except “if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest; or … in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed.”
What Is the Status of the Hyde Amendment?
President Trump states in the Executive Order, “It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.” Congress has reauthorized the Hyde Amendment annually since 1977 as an attachment to the appropriations bill for HHS, except in 2022.
On July 8, 2022, following a decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade one month earlier, former President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order directing his administration “to take further action to protect access to reproductive healthcare services.” Then, on Aug. 3, 2022 — after Dobbs v. Jackson delegated abortion regulation to states — Biden signed a second Executive Order to deem “termination of a pregnancy” as a reproductive healthcare service and to allow Medicaid patients in states where abortion is banned to travel across state lines for such medical services.
In short, these executive orders provided federal funding for elective abortions, which the Trump administration says is in violation of the Hyde Amendment. Trump’s Executive Order renders Biden’s Executive Orders null and void.
According to a White House Fact Sheet:
Executive Order 14706 “imposed a whole-of-government effort to promote and fund abortion and to politicize enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act,” and
Executive Order 14709 “recategorized abortion as ‘healthcare’ in order to provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions. This included using Medicaid funding to pay for travel costs for elective abortions.”
According to the Department of Justice, however, the Hyde Amendment does not prohibit indirect expenditures such as providing transportation for women seeking abortions.
KFF reports, as of Nov. 6, 2024, over half of reproductive age women on Medicaid live in a state that follows Hyde Amendment standards or bans abortion: 13 states banned abortion, 18 states including the District of Columbia follow Hyde restrictions; and 20 states use their own funds to pay for abortions for Medicaid enrollees. The total number of women aged 15-49 years covered by Medicaid in 2022 was 15.4 million.
What Does Trump’s Executive Order Mean?
Federal statutes protecting access to emergency medical care for pregnant women under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and protecting personal health information under HIPAA remain in full effect, according to the White House Fact Sheet.
To date, the Fact Sheet continues, the Trump administration has:
- Issued a rule preventing Title X taxpayer funding from subsidizing the abortion industry.
- Cut all funding to the United Nations Population Fund.
- Overturned the previous administration’s regulation that prohibited states from defunding abortion facilities as part of their family planning programs.
- Fully enforced the separate payment requirement for abortion coverage in health insurance exchange plans.
- Stopped the federal funding of fetal tissue research.
- Protected healthcare entities and individuals from being forced to participate in an abortion in violation of their beliefs.
- Issued an executive order reinforcing the requirement that all hospitals in the United States provide medical treatment or an emergency transfer for infants in need of emergency medical care — regardless of prematurity or disability.
President Trump also signed a Presidential Memorandum reinstating the Mexico City Policy to stop the use of federal taxpayer dollars for abortions performed outside of the U.S.
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