Hyde Amendment has a bipartisan past but a cloudy future

Most people who keep an eye on life issues know the shorthand about the Hyde Amendment — that it bars the federal government from funding abortions through Medicaid.
But the amendment does more than that — although not everything pro-lifers may wish it could do — and with the amendment’s 40th anniversary Sept. 30 just passed, it may do well to remember how it all came about.