Congress can come up with some really messed up nomenclature. Orrin Hatch is prattling on-and-on about ‘non-Hyde abortions.’ It’s a reference to the Hyde Amendment. In its current form, the Hyde Amendment looks like this, and it applies to all federal funding:
None of the funds appropriated under this Act shall be expended for any abortion except when it is made known to the federal entity or official to which funds are appropriated under this Act that such procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother or that the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.
So, a non-Hyde abortion is an abortion where there is no rape or incest involved and the life of the mother is not threatened. The ironic result of this definition is that a Hyde abortion is often the result of rape or incest. That seems like a somewhat cruel but perhaps just tribute to Henry Hyde.
