#HelloHyde initiative celebrates millions of lives saved by the Hyde Amendment

As the Hyde Amendment approaches its 40th anniversary, pro-life advocates are coming together to celebrate this life-saving rider which has been added to the federal budget every year with bipartisan support since 1976.

Coordinated by Secular Pro-Life, the social media initiative announced in a Monday press release is known as #HelloHyde. Under the Hyde Amendment, federal dollars cannot be use to fund abortions except in rare exceptions.

Those interested in the initiative can sign up for the mailing list through the website to receive updates about the September 30, 2016 anniversary.

According to the website, their goals are to:

• Celebrate the lives saved by the Hyde Amendment and the lives of all Medicaid kids.

• Preserve the Hyde Amendment against attacks from the abortion lobby.

• Expand the Hyde Amendment to cover children in every state and children conceived through violence, and cut the abortion industry off from all sources of taxpayer funding (not just Medicaid).

The initiative allows people to meet those who were saved because of the Hyde Amendment, as well as those born and helped with the Medicaid program.

#HelloHyde spokeswoman Gina Mallica is one of the recipients Medicaid assistance.  “I received Medicaid care as a baby, so the Hyde Amendment is incredibly important to me.  Low-income children deserve a chance at life, not a government-subsidized death,” she said.

Stargift Thomas, a spokeswoman who was born and helped through Medicaid in 1991, echoed the sentiment.

“For forty years, the Hyde Amendment has affirmed that lives like mine are worth living,” Thomas said.

Unfortunately, not all agree that the lives of Mallica and Thomas are worth saving. The abortion lobby — and the 2016 Democratic Party platform — have called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment. Rather than offering true solutions and assistance to low-income women during their pregnancies, some would rather take taxpayer dollars to kill their children through abortion, an unpopular and bad choice.

That notion is a stark one for many, especially those who are alive today because of the Hyde Amendment.

Mallica said “the repeal efforts are offensive to the many Americans who owe their lives to the Hyde Amendment.” She added, “The #HelloHyde campaign puts faces to this life-or-death issue.”

For now at least,  the Hyde Amendment is still in place and will be around to see its 40th anniversary. Thomas called it “a time to celebrate,” and references the over one million lives it has saved. “We are confident that it will save many more in the future,” she said.

This bipartisan, common-sense and life-saving amendment ought to be celebrated for many years to come.