|
|
Dear Friend,
Today, the U.S. House Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee is holding a hearing on the harms of the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment is a harmful bill that restricts government funds from being used to cover abortion—except in extremely limited circumstances—essentially ensuring that low-income women; Black, Indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQ people; low-wage workers; and immigrants can’t access the same rights to safe, legal abortion as the rest of the population.
For over four decades, anyone who relies on government health care has been unable to use their benefits to cover the cost of an abortion. [1] Right now, we have more than 180 co-sponsors in the House, and over 20 co-sponsors in the Senate, for the EACH Woman Act – with only a few weeks left to add co-sponsors, we need to show overwhelming support to end the Hyde amendment.
The EACH Woman Act is a bill that would ensure abortion coverage for all. It should not matter how much money you make or whether or not you have insurance – each of us should be able to make personal decisions without politicians interfering. For decades, restrictions like the Hyde Amendment have pushed abortion care out of reach for people who have already been marginalized by our healthcare system.
Our letter reads:
As one of over a million members of MomsRising, I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor the EACH (Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance) Woman Act to repeal the Hyde Amendment.
The Hyde Amendment restricts government funds from being used to cover an abortion—except in extremely limited circumstances. The Hyde Amendment excludes people who receive Medicaid, military personnel, federal employees, Black, Indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQ people; low-wage workers; and immigrants and Indigenous people from accessing their legal right to abortion. Denying access to abortion solely due to one’s socioeconomic status is completely unacceptable. More than half of the 7.5 million women affected by this coverage ban are women of color.
The time is now to overturn a ban that has only exacerbated health and income inequalities for millions of women and families over the last four decades. In fact, the American Public Health Association study found that women who sought an abortion but could not get one were more likely to be living in poverty a year later than women who did get an abortion.
Being able to manage how many children we have and when we have them has been nothing short of revolutionary—not just for women and mothers, but for our country as a whole. The EACH Woman Act is a bill that would ensure abortion coverage for all. It should not matter how much money you make or whether or not you have insurance – each of us should be able to make personal decisions without politicians interfering.
Now is the time to ensure that every person with the ability to give birth has access to the legal right to abortion care.
Abortion care is health care, period. And most people who have abortions are already parents. [3] The Hyde Amendment excludes people who receive Medicaid, military personnel, federal employees, and Indigenous people from accessing their legal right to abortion. Currently, only 16 states have a policy that directs Medicaid to pay for all or most medically necessary abortions. [4] It is abhorrent that one’s access to abortion depends on their zip code or income level. [5] Let’s be clear, the Hyde Amendment was enacted to restrict government funds from being used to cover abortion for low-income women and women of color, specifically. Not surprisingly, more than half of the 7.5 million women affected by this coverage ban are women of color. These efforts to restrict abortion care have only one goal in mind: to end all abortion. We won't allow it.
Banning abortion doesn’t end abortion — it just ends safe, legal abortion. The EACH Woman Act will ensure that harmful bans on abortion, like the Hyde Amendment, will be overturned. On this day of action, it’s more important than ever to have an outpouring of support from constituents like you for the EACH Woman Act. We will not rest because abortion care still remains out of reach for too many -- and is threatened even more by the recent Supreme Court appointment. Urge your Congress members to end HYDE today and together we can protect access to reproductive health.
Sincerely,
Diarra, Nadia, Felicia, Tina, Monifa, Kristin, and the entire MomsRising/MamásConPoder team
[1] Rewire News, Ten Reasons Folks Should Care About the Hyde Amendment.
[2] The American Public Health Association, Socioeconomic consequences of abortion compared to unwanted birth
[3] Slate.com, The Mother Majority; and Guttmacher Institute, Infographic: U.S. Abortion Patients
[4] Guttmacher Institute, State Funding of Abortion Under Medicaid
[5] Planned Parenthood, Hyde Amendment
Register to vote! / ¡Regístrese para votar!
Join our Spanish language community, MamásConPoder.org
What should MomsRising tackle next? Tell us!
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.