Poll: Majority of Americans oppose using Medicaid funds for abortion

A majority of Americans oppose using federal tax dollars to pay for elective abortion procedures, according to a new poll conducted for Politico by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The survey found that 58 percent of likely voters oppose the use of Medicaid funds for abortion procedures, while only 36 percent support it.

Anti-abortion activists rally outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, a solid majority, 57 percent, of self-identified supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton support the use of Medicaid funds for abortion, and a mere 36 percent do not.

And 19 percent of self-identified supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump support the use of Medicaid funds for abortion, while 77 percent oppose it.

As a candidate, Clinton has frequently advocated the use of taxpayer funds to pay for abortions and repeatedly campaigned on the call to repeal of the Hyde Amendment, a measure barring the use of any federal funds to pay for elective abortion procedures.

In a June speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Clinton said, “Let’s repeal laws like the Hyde Amendment that make it nearly impossible for low-income women, disproportionately women of color, to exercise their full reproductive rights.”

Pro-life organizations recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, named for the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), which they hail as a life-saving measure. The Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, estimates the amendment has saved more than 2 million unborn children from abortion since 1976.