HYDE AMENDMENT'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

On 2026-09-16, Representative Chip Roy (R-TX-21) delivered a floor speech titled "HYDE AMENDMENT'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY" in the House.

HYDE AMENDMENT'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 146 (Wednesday, September 16, 2026)] [House] [Pages H5969-H5974] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] HYDE AMENDMENT'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Smith of New Jersey was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.) General Leave Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this special order. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Fedorchak). Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New Jersey? There was no objection. Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, 50 years ago, on September 30, 1976, Congress first enacted an amendment offered by the late great Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois to prohibit Federal Medicaid funding from being used to subsidize the killing of unborn children by abortion. During a debate in the House, right here, 50 years ago, Henry said: ``An innocent, defenseless human life, in a caring and humane society deserves better than to be flushed down a toilet or burned in an incinerator. The promise of America,'' Henry Hyde said, ``is that life is not just for the privileged, the planned, or the perfect.'' Mr. Speaker, according to Dr. Michael New of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, approximately 2.7 million people are alive today and each year another 60,000 evade the irreversible consequence of death by abortion and they survive because of Henry Hyde's amendment. Thanks to Henry Hyde, 2.7 million people, who would otherwise have been aborted, have experienced the joys, challenges, and opportunities to thrive. Madam Speaker, beginning in 1981, I had the honor of serving alongside Henry Hyde right here in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was brilliant, compassionate, tenacious, incredibly articulate, self-effacing, a man of great wisdom and humor, a one-of-a-kind lawmaker who to this day remains the great defender of unborn children and their mothers. He was so good at debate that you always wanted Henry Hyde to be your closer. Henry believed sound moral principles and courage should inform and guide the decisions we make in government. He addressed a 1990 class of incoming freshmen Members of Congress with these words: ``This may sound odd, even ironic. You are here in the flush of victory. And yet it is precisely now that I ask you to contemplate the possibility of defeat--perhaps even the necessity of defeat . . . If you don't know the principle, or the policy, for which you are willing to lose your office, then you are going to do damage here.'' Madam Speaker, obviously, nobody wants to lose an election. However, we do great damage when we sacrifice our core convictions on the altar of political expediency. It is truly sad that far too many politicians who know better have abandoned unborn children and their mothers to the abortionists for political gain or upward advancement. The Hyde amendment is under relentless assault. Yet, polling data consistently reflects what the 2026 Marist Poll found: a significant majority of Americans do not support taxpayer funding for abortion. As pro-life Americans work to replace abortion violence, the culture of death, with compassion and empathy for women and children, the Hyde amendment continues to stand as one of the most important human rights policies of the past 50 years. However--and we know this so well--the billion-dollar abortion industry, like Planned Parenthood, which itself has killed over 10 million babies in their clinics, continues to cleverly market the cheap sophistry of choice while going to extraordinary lengths to downplay the suffering and the pain experienced by the battered baby victims in the womb as well as the coercion or pressure exerted on the mother to end the life of her unborn child. I would remind my colleagues that the abortion pill, mifepristone, kills the baby by starving the child to death, while other methods of abortion dismember and decapitate the baby. We now know--and there has been a coverup on this for many years-- that mifepristone is extremely dangerous to women. The Ethics in Public Policy Center conducted the largest known study ever on the abortion pill. They looked at 865,000 women who took mifepristone from 2017 to 2023 and found that 10.93 percent, almost 1 of every 11 women, experienced significant adverse events like sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, and other serious adverse events. That has all been covered up for decades, and it has to get out into the light of day. Let's not forget that if you look at the container that carries this, it says it has less than 0.5 percent adverse events. That is a big lie, big lie. Let me say it again: It is big lie. Mr. Speaker, future generations of Americans, I believe, will look back and wonder how such a seemingly smart and enlightened society could have permitted and perpetrated the violent deaths of more than 66 million children by abortion, often with government authorization, enabling, and in many of our States, with public funding. History will note, however, that the struggle of Henry Hyde and millions of pro-life Americans who joined him in his quest to protect and defend the rights of the weakest and most vulnerable--they will know that we are with him and so many others who have stood tall. Henry Hyde has always encouraged all of us in the pro-life movement, despite setbacks and the often harsh criticism that we all get, to preserve and never give up. {time} 2040 He famously said--and I will close on this--``When the time comes as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I have often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God, and a terror will rip through your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there will be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world, and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, `Spare him because he loved us.' And God will look at you and say, not `Did you succeed,' but `Did you try?''' Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. [[Page H5970]] McDowell) who is joining us today as part of this Special Order. Mr. McDOWELL. Madam Speaker, on the heels of my wife, Rachel, and I welcoming our third daughter into this world, it is only fitting to celebrate life through the 50th anniversary of the Hyde amendment. Life is just as precious today as it was in 1976. Unfortunately, some have lost sight of protecting the unborn. I will say this: I will never lose sight. The idea that this amendment is even needed in the first place is hard to fathom, but my colleagues on the other side have shown they will use any chance they get to steer American tax dollars to fund abortions. This wasn't always their position, Madam Speaker. While they have always been opposed to protecting life, many at least agreed not to have the tax dollars of my constituents fund it. It is only in recent years where the curtain fell and they stopped pretending. On this 50th anniversary, let us be reminded that there is no greater cause than the protection of life and giving a voice to the voiceless. Now, and going forward, this body must not simply protect the Hyde amendment. We must strengthen it and never back down. Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend for his very fine comments and his leadership. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), the chair of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee and longstanding advocate and defender of the unborn. Honoring Life and Legacy of Robert ``Bob'' Melville Lee Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend Representative Chris Smith for always standing up for life. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the Pro-Life Caucus for allowing me some time to give an off-topic speech, momentarily just departing from the very important topic of preserving and strengthening the Hyde amendment, of which we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of. Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of the life and legacy of my friend, Robert ``Bob'' Melville Lee, who went to be with our Lord on August 17, 2026. While his many professional achievements are astounding, it is the titles of husband, father, grandfather, and friend that he was most beloved for. A close friend described him as an incredibly honest, forthright, and above all, loyal individual. Bob was born on August 7, 1945, in Columbus, Ohio. He moved to California shortly after. He was proud to call San Francisco home for most of his life. Bob's love of sports and the drive to excel began at a very young age as he collected quotes from athletes and coaches for his father who was a journalist for The Associated Press. He recounted often the time that his mother found him snagged by his own jacket on a playground fence before returning to dinner. He attended Lowell High School and was an exceptional athlete, excelling in football and baseball, and receiving honors for both. Bob went on to play collegiate football at both San Francisco City College and the University of the Pacific in Stockton. His hard work and determination opened the door to an extensive career in the National Football League. Over the next 14 years, he competed for the Minnesota Vikings, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Los Angeles Rams. He received most valuable player, MVP honors, and the team award all in the same year, becoming the first person to receive these distinctions in a single season. He also received Rookie of the Year. Bob advanc