One of the first times that I spoke to a pro-life group—back in the mid-eighties, I believe—Congressman Henry Hyde was there.
The occasion was a Los Angeles Archdiocesan Pro-Life Congress. (This event, which the tireless Licia Nicassio formerly organized on an annual basis, has been scrapped and Licia’s pro-life office closed by Cardinal Mahoney in his relentless search for funds with which to pay his legal bills.)
Meeting Henry Hyde
I was new to the pro-life movement, and knew little about Congressman Hyde other than that he was an accomplished pro-life orator and one of Washington’s leading defenders of the unborn.
I spoke first, focusing on China’s one-child policy and the suffering it was visiting upon China’s mothers, children, and families.
Then Henry Hyde was introduced. Striding up to the podium, he cut a commanding figure. He was tall and stout, with a mane of white hair. But it was his speech that held me enthralled. Over two decades later some of his phrases and arguments, delivered in ringing tones and perfect cadence, still remain with me.
Speaking for the Child
He consecrated the unborn child as “that little spark of the divine that a woman carries within her.”
With a consistency rare in politicians, he condemned all abortions, even in the hard cases: “Rape and incest already create one innocent victim, the pregnant woman, and to commit an abortion would only add a second.”
And he told us, bringing tears to the eyes of many, that while pro-lifers are not perfect, they would get a pass from some very influential people in Heaven: “’those millions of children who died unknown at the hands of abortionists will form a great chorus of greeting as you enter Heaven.”
Our paths crossed many times over the years, usually at pro-life conventions. Whenever pro-lifers gathered together in any numbers, Hyde would often be there.
The Hyde Amendment
But it was for his accomplishments in Congress that Congressman Hyde will be most remembered. In his first term as congressman, he introduced what would become known as the “’Hyde Amendment,” which prevented our tax dollars—yours and mine—from going to pay for abortions.
The House of Representatives, despite being under the control of the party of abortion, recently honored Hyde’s contributions. Even at this moment, however, the vindictiveness of pro-abortion advocates came through.
Let me tell you what I mean. The original text of House Resolution 843, as submitted by Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL) and his co-sponsors, reads that Hyde “leaves a legacy as one of the most principled and influential public servants of his generation,” pointing specifically to “’his impassioned defense of innocent human life… [and] his success in passing a ban on federal funding of abortions through an amendment commonly referred to as the Hyde Amendment that remains one of the most notable and lasting achievements of his distinguished career.” It goes on to mention that he was awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on November 5, 2007, in part for “promot[ing] a culture of Life.”
These positive references to his pro-life achievements were deleted from the final, Nancy Pelosi-approved version, which simply reads that Hyde “will be remembered for his impassioned opposition to abortion, and the Hyde Amendment, which banned the federal funding of abortion.” The positive references to promoting a Culture of Life have vanished.
Be that as it may, I am certain that Congressman Hyde has now received a higher honor than any mere congress can bestow.
I imagine him entering those gates and being greeted by a celestial choir of enormous magnitude. The unborn millions on whose behalf he labored so tirelessly over the years will be there to welcome him home, just as he promised us long ago in Los Angeles.
