Health spending bill would keep ban on tax-funded abortion
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An unborn baby at 20 weeks. | Credit: Steve via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)Jan 21, 2026 / 15:49 pm (CNA).A federal health spending bill would impose a long-enforced ban on using taxpayer funds for elective abortion, known as the Hyde Amendment.The U.S. House is set to consider the bill this week, which would fund the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. Lawmakers would need to pass spending bills in both chambers and send them to the White House by Jan. 30 or the government could face another partial shutdown.Republican President Donald Trump had asked his party to be "flexible" in its approach to the provision in a separate funding bill. According to a Jan. 19 news release from the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill includes the provision "protecting the lives of unborn children" known as the Hyde Amendment.The Hyde Amendment, which is not permanent law, was first included as a rider in federal spending...
An unborn baby at 20 weeks. | Credit: Steve via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Jan 21, 2026 / 15:49 pm (CNA).
A federal health spending bill would impose a long-enforced ban on using taxpayer funds for elective abortion, known as the Hyde Amendment.
The U.S. House is set to consider the bill this week, which would fund the departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services. Lawmakers would need to pass spending bills in both chambers and send them to the White House by Jan. 30 or the government could face another partial shutdown.
Republican President Donald Trump had asked his party to be "flexible" in its approach to the provision in a separate funding bill. According to a Jan. 19 news release from the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee, the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill includes the provision "protecting the lives of unborn children" known as the Hyde Amendment.
The Hyde Amendment, which is not permanent law, was first included as a rider in federal spending bills in 1976. It was included consistently since then although some recent legislation and budget proposals have sometimes excluded it. The provision would ban federal funds for abortion except when the unborn child is conceived through rape or incest or if the life of the mother is at risk.
Katie Glenn Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the amendment is "a long-standing federal policy that's been included for the last five decades and is popular with the American people."
"Americans don't want to pay for abortion on demand," she said.
Many Democratic lawmakers have sought to eliminate the rider in recent years, saying it disproportionately limits abortion access for low-income women. Former President Joe Biden reversed his longtime support of the Hyde Amendment in the lead-up to the 2020 election and refused to include it in his spending proposals, saying: "If I believe health care is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone's zip code." But Republicans successfully negotiated the rider's inclusion into spending bills.
In January 2025, Trump issued an executive order directing the government to enforce the Hyde Amendment. A year later, Trump urged Republicans to be "a little flexible on Hyde" when lawmakers were negotiating the extension of health care subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act. A White House spokesperson also said the president would work with Congress to ensure the strongest possible pro-life protections.
The House eventually passed the extension without the Hyde Amendment after 17 Republicans joined Democrats to support the bill. The Senate has not yet advanced the measure, where the question of whether to include the Hyde Amendment has been a point of contention between Republicans and Democrats.
In mid-January, Trump announced a plan to change how health care subsidies are disbursed. There was no mention of the Hyde Amendment in the White House's 827-word memo.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has consistently lobbied for the inclusion of the Hyde Amendment in spending bills. On Jan. 14, the bishops sent a letter to Congress "to stress in the strongest possible terms that Hyde is essential for health care policy that protects human dignity."
"Authentic health care and the protection of human life go hand in hand," the letter said. "There can be no compromise on these two combined values."
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Rev. Daniel Bagama was among four people abducted from Ungwan Danladi village in Kajuru LGA by assailants who spoke the Fulani language and who are demanding ransoms of 20 million Naira ($14,000), according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). | Credit: Photo courtesy of Kaduna Political AffairsJan 21, 2026 / 16:26 pm (CNA). Christin Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a U.K.-based human rights organization, has called on Nigerian authorities to "secure the release" of 167 worshippers reportedly abducted during coordinated attacks on three churches in Kurmin Wali community, Kajuru local government area (LGA) of Kaduna state.In a Tuesday, Jan. 20, report shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, CSW leadership condemned the mass abduction that reportedly took place on Jan. 18 while worshippers were attending Sunday church services.According to the report, attempts by CSW Nigeria staff to access the community to verify the incident were blocked by the ...
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Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur celebrates Mass at the Shrine of Mary the Protector on Jan. 16, 2026. | Credit: Stephan Uttom RozarioJan 21, 2026 / 12:00 pm (CNA).Thousands of pilgrims gathered at a Marian shrine in northern Bangladesh on Jan. 16 to express gratitude to Mary for protecting villagers during the country's 1971 War of Independence.The annual pilgrimage at Nabai Battala village in the Rajshahi Diocese concluded a nine-day novena with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Sebastian Tudu of Dinajpur. The pilgrimage commemorates an incident during Bangladesh's war for independence from Pakistan when Pakistani soldiers surrounded the village church but left without harming anyone inside."It is not like this that Mother Mary does not listen to anyone's prayers," Tudu said in his homily. "The people of Nabai Battala have already received the grace of Mother Mary. During the War of Independence in 1971, they trusted Mother Mary to save their lives. And Mother Mary has indeed prot...
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The traditional procession of Holy Week takes place annually in Ayacucho, Peru. | Credit: Milton Rodriguez/ShutterstockJan 21, 2026 / 10:00 am (CNA).A Pew Research Center report found Catholics remain the largest religious group across Latin America despite increases in other religious identities.The report, "Catholicism Has Declined in Latin America Over the Past Decade," draws on a nationally representative face-to-face survey of 6,234 adults conducted from Jan. 22 to April 27, 2024, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. The analysis was produced by Pew Research Center as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, which analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world.The research released Jan. 21 found that Latin American adults are more religious than adults in many other countries Pew has also surveyed in recent years, especially in Europe where many adults have left Christianity since childhood.Pew analyzed the...
