WASHINGTON • House Appropriations Democrats advanced a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services without including language that expressly bars federal dollars from being used to pay for abortions in most cases.

Democrats rejected an amendment to the spending bill that would reinsert the Hyde Amendment rider, which dates back to the 1970s and ensures that federal government funding cannot be used to pay for abortion services in most cases. The Hyde Amendment is one of the most prominent anti-abortion restrictions on annual spending, and the Democratic Party has been trying to eliminate it for years.

The Hyde Amendment was first devised to prevent Medicaid, the federal healthcare program that serves very poor Americans, from covering the cost of an abortion. Its disproportionate effect on low-income people, as well as minority groups, has caused many Democrats to argue that it discriminates against vulnerable populations.

“A status quo that denies help to low-income (women), in this case disproportionately denying women of color health services available to those who can afford this choice,” Chairwoman Rosa Delauro (D-conn.) said Thursday.

While the Hyde Amendment requires federal health programs to exclude funding for abortions, states that offer health care coverage on Obamacare exchanges are not barred from including coverage benefits for abortions, though 25 states prohibit coverage in plans sold through the exchange.

Since its inception, Hyde has been expanded to apply to the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the military health care program Tricare, Medicare, and the Indian Health Service. It prohibits funding for the procedure in most cases except for those that result from rape or incest, or when the mother’s life is in danger.

“The Hyde Amendment has been part of the labor HHS annual appropriations bill for more than 40 years. It reflects a long-standing compromise on a deeply controversial issue,” said Rep. Kay Granger (R-texas). “The removal of this provision from the bill is deeply troubling to me. It will have to be reinserted if votes are needed for members on our side of the aisle.”

Republicans will likely put up a fight to restore the rider once the spending bill makes it to the full floor for a vote. Democrats have the majority in the House and a very narrow majority in the Senate. Joe Manchin, a Democrat and a champion of Hyde, is expected to defect to the GOP on such a vote.

With the Supreme Court’s recent repeal of Roe v. Wade, sending the power to regulate abortions back to the states, Democrats are more fired up than ever to put protections in place for women, especially poor women, to be able to access abortions.

The spending bill up for debate would allocate about $124.2 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services, an increase of nearly $15.6B above enacted 2022 levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would get $10.5B, a $2B bump. And the National Institutes of Health gained a $2.5B increase to $47.5 billion.