The ONLY place The Hyde Amendment applies is Medicaid. No place else. So the draconian Stupak Amendment isn't even good law. It has NO precedent. The Stupid Pak Amendment is an insult to the intelligence of women and treats them as if second class citizens unable to discern their own mind.
The Hyde Amendment prevents states from using federal funds under Medicaid to pay for abortions (except under limited circumstances, currently when the mother’s life is in danger or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest); however, the Hyde Amendment is not permanent law.
The Hyde Amendment was written and attached to an appropriations bill in 1976. It was a reaction to the Supreme Court's decision of 1973 in Roe v. Wade.
The Stupak Amendment is not good law because it goes outside of Hyde. It attempts to control private insurance monies and the federal government has no authority over private insurance dollars when it is subscribed to by a private citizen. Hyde was upheld because it was deemed Congress could control its budget.
Stupak operates on the basis that the church does and the Anti-Abortion Lobby, that life begins at conception. It doesn't. Not physiologically and not legally. The Stupak Amendment is not valid law.
A human embryo is not discernable as any such embryo at conception. It is nothing but a cluster of cells without a specific function. If removed from the uterus, it can be effected by hormones to grow differently as a 'stem cell' has capacity. If a cell, human or otherwise, is not STATIC in its genetic definition at conception it cannot be assigned the status of a human being.
End of discussion.
