A new study shows that a law in the US outlawing the use of federal funds for abortions has saved more than two million lives since it was first enacted.
The Hyde Amendment was introduced to the U.S. Congress by Henry Hyde on 30 September 1976.
Research conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute argues that the amendment has significantly reduced abortion rates through funding restrictions.
Increase in birthrate
Genevieve Plaster, the senior policy analyst at the group, said: “The Hyde Amendment has saved more than two million lives since 1976.”
She added that this is ‘approximately the population of the city of Houston’, the fourth largest city in the US.
The study also states that the birthrate of women on Medicaid, the Government-funded health insurance programme, has increased by about 13 percent since the Hyde Amendment was first enacted.
Ireland
Last month, a report in Ireland argued that over 100,000 lives had been saved by the country’s constitutional protections for the unborn.
The Eighth Amendment, pledges to “defend and vindicate” the equal right to life of the unborn and the mother, “as far as practicable”.
Ireland’s Pro Life Campaign published the report, which estimates that 304,000 abortions would have taken place in Ireland between 1994 and 2014 if the country’s abortion rate was the same as that of England and Wales.
Instead, while women from Ireland underwent 108,000 abortions abroad, the group concluded that as many as 196,000 lives have been saved.
Pressure
The Irish Government is currently under pressure to hold a referendum on whether or not to repeal the amendment.
There have been over 8 million abortions carried out in England and Wales since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed.