Michael J. New, Ph.D.

Congress enacted the first Hyde Amendment on September 30, 1976. The Hyde Amendment has been passed every year since 1976 and has largely prevented federal Medicaid dollars from paying for abortions. The Hyde Amendment has played an important role in the history of the national debate on abortion. Its passage was one of the pro-life movement’s first major legislative victories. As such, now is an apt time to look back on the amendment’s history and analyze its impact during the past 40 years.

Last week The Washington Examiner reported on a new study released by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. It analyzed the declining birthrate in the United States since 2007. Even though there are more women of

The history of the pro-life movement has received precious little attention from either journalists or academics.   In 2014, Dr. and Mrs. John C. Willke published Abortion and the Pro-Life Movement: An Inside View which is the first truly comprehensive history of the modern pro-life movement. Their book first explores the history of pro-life activism before Roe v. Wade and then devotes a chapter to every year after 1973.  This year, Daniel K. Williams, associate professor of history at the University of West Georgia, published Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade, a helpful augmentation to the Willke’s book.

These cases represent a challenge against the Obamacare contraception mandate and its impact on the religious freedom of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious nonprofits.  The religious nonprofit organizations are arguing that the so-called “accommodation” crafted by the Obama Administration violates religious freedom protections secured by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

Last Thursday Alaska Governor Bill Walker announced that he would use his executive authority to expand Alaska’s state Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. Walker’s proposal would extend Medicaid eligibility to all Alaskans earning less than 133 percent of the

Pro-lifers received some disappointing news last Friday when the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously struck down Iowa’s telemed abortion ban.

The concern pro-lifers have with Medicaid expansion is that 17 states use tax dollars to fund elective abortion through Medicaid. There is plenty of research which shows that subsidizing abortion through Medicaid increases abortion rates.

The recent mandate by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requiring private health insurance plans to cover all FDA-approved contraceptive drugs has generated a considerable amount of controversy. A time series cross-sectional analysis of state level public health data offers important insights as to what impact these contraceptive mandates have on public health outcomes.

This May, the Alaska state legislature will consider legislation that would expand Alaska's Medicaid program. In this timely analysis, CLI Associate Scholar Michael J. New, Ph.D. elaborates four ways in which a Medicaid expansion in Alaska would likely increase the state's abortion incidence.