Trump Signs Executive Order Enforcing Ban on Federal Funding for Elective Abortions

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order reaffirming the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding federal ban on taxpayer funding for elective abortions. Trump signed the order, titled “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment,” on Jan. 24, stating that the amendment’s ban on using taxpayer dollars to fund or promote abortions represents a “longstanding consensus” among Americans. The order not only reinforces existing law but also rolls back policies implemented under the administration of former President Joe Biden that allegedly circumvented the Hyde Amendment’s provisions. “For nearly five decades, the Congress has annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice,” Trump’s executive order reads. “However, the previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.”...