FILE – In this June 30, 1980, file photo, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., speaks to reporters in Washington, about the Supreme Court’s decision that the federal government and individual states do not have to pay for abortions wanted by women on welfare. Hyde was one of the sponsors of a bill in Congress limiting spending of tax money to pay for abortions. The Hyde Amendment is now in the spotlight some 40 years after it was passed by Congress, emerging as an election issue in the national debate over abortion. First approved in 1976, and renewed annually ever since as part of the appropriations process, the amendment bans federal funding for Medicaid coverage of abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or when a pregnancy endangers a women’s life. (AP Photo/Charles Harrity, File)
By DAVID CRARY
