Tim Kaine: “before returning to Calendar No. 113, I want to respond briefly to my colleague from Alabama. His position on abortion…”

“before returning to Calendar No. 113, I want to respond briefly to my colleague from Alabama. His position on abortion and reproductive rights is well known, but his claim that the Pentagon policy is unlawful is incorrect. In fact, there has been a policy in place since the Reagan administration that impacts directly upon the policy in the Pentagon. The Senator from Alabama is correct that, except for limited exceptions, Federal funds may not be used to pay for abortions. That is true. We commonly call it the Hyde amendment, and I am a Hyde amendment supporter. But, in the 1980s, the Reagan administration was confronted with an issue: What if women in prison--in the Bureau of Prisons--become pregnant and want to terminate a pregnancy? Could Federal funds be used to allow that pregnancy to be terminated? The Reagan administration's Solicitor General analyzed the situation and said that the Hyde amendment would prohibit funding to procure the abortion, but Federal funds could be used to enable a prisoner to travel to medical care where she could make the choice to terminate a pregnancy. Later administrations grappled with the same question with respect to Peace Corps volunteers. If a Peace Corps volunteer in a country that does not have reproductive rights access gets pregnant and wants to terminate a pregnancy in a way that is lawful in the United States but not where she is deployed, would the Hyde amendment allow Federal funds to be used?…”